The Orphan
by KingsOfSarutobi
Summary: Konan sees young Naruto after he is kicked out of his orphanage, and decides to give the boy a little bit of help - how will this affect our resident Uzumaki and the trajectory of his life? Now no longer a one-shot, updated whenever.
1. Chapter 1: Storms of Konoha

**Hello. The other fic I am writing is not abandoned, but I figured I would try a change of pace with this fic, and see which writing style I prefer. While this is currently a one-shot, I will likely expand it into a full fic once I make a proper storyboard.**

 **While this is a story in and of itself, I also like to think of it as a character study in a way - not only creating a happy little story for Naruto coming into contact with one of the most universally loved duo of side characters in the Naruto universe (Ayame & Teuchi), but shows my thoughts on Konan, and how her life has affected her and shaped her, both in her intentional and unintentional tendencies. **

Konohagakure, and the country it lived within, Hi no Kuni, enjoyed a wide variety of weathers. Citizens of Konoha were accustomed to seeing snow and rain in the winter, sunny weather in the spring and fall, with occasional storms in the summer.

In one of these stormy seasons, Naruto Uzumaki found himself playing outside. He didn't mind the summer rain, he giggled at the sounds of thunder, and jumped up in excitement at the first strike of lightning.

Many people in Konoha were afraid of the storms, or at least didn't feel the need to take a baseless risk in a village whose primary occupation meant people could die any day.

For Naruto, these stormy times were when he could run around like the kid he was, unburdened by the stares and whispers of other Konoha residents. These stormy times were the times that he thought of when he first learned the word 'freedom'.

Most kids in the orphanage were afraid of the storms, and the orphanage directors were afraid of kids getting hurt in it, but Naruto wasn't _really_ one of their kids, at least that's what they pretended. You see, one day, the venerable Sandaime Hokage had placed Naruto in their care, and visited him from time to time, but never truly checked up on him for more than a few hours, one day every few months.

Thus, Naruto was alone for most of his, at this time, short existence.

As Naruto got tired of playing in the rain, he started walking back to the orphanage. You see, Naruto technically wasn't allowed to be back, and so he escaped through his orphanage window. The workers never checked his room, after all, unless they were going to complain about how dirty it was, and make him clean it up, under threat of getting no dinner.

Therefore, Naruto was shocked when he found his window locked. Did the orphanage workers know he was out? What would happen? How could he sneak back in and still make it in time for dinner?

Finding no way to get back in, Naruto walked up to the front door. Embarassed that he would get caught, Naruto rapped on the door with his small fists, and waited for a response. When he saw the door opening, Naruto's heart sank.

On the other side was Same-san, the old man who was second-in-command to the director. Same-san would yell at Naruto more than anyone but the director.

"What's this, little boy?" Naruto put on a brave face and decided to stand up to the old shark.

"I need to get back in, ttebayo!" the man's evil grin increased.

"What do you mean, get back in?" Naruto's eyes were widened.

"Come on, old man! You know I live here! I need to get back in time for dinner!" The old man tilted his head.

"I don't know what you mean – all the kids who live in the orphanage know not to leave. I think you've got the wrong place." Before Naruto could retort, the door was closed on him, and the gravity of Naruto's situation became clear – he no longer had a home. He couldn't see his best friend, and didn't know what to do.

Could Jiji help him? Naruto brushed that thought aside rather quickly – Jiji was the man who visited him every once in a while, wearing his strange red and white robes, who was respected by the orphanage staff. Jiji was the one who inspired Naruto to become the Hokage, but he didn't know who Jiji was, or what he did. How could he find him? Everyone surely had to have a Jiji, so even his name for this precious person didn't hold much weight.

With hope temporarily extinguished from Naruto, he aimlessly wandered further into town, until he vanished in the rain.

* * *

As Naruto wandered through the deserted streets of Konoha and the world became darker as night came close, there was one other figure there, unseen by the blonde. In fact, nothing would indicate there was another person, except for the small sheet of paper fluttering far above him, as it came to a rest on a rooftop, before unfolding, allowing what looked like thousands of little paper sheets to unpack themselves and form into a woman in a black cloak, with red clouds.

This woman was unlike any that most Konoha residents had ever seen, and among those who had, none were in the village itself. She had amber eyes, blue hair, and a neutral, but rather cold, expression. To this woman, the boy in the street was a complicated matter – he was a Jinchuriki who would one day die for her best friend's dream, but his optimism, his drive, and even his physical appearance was a painful reminder of her _other_ , her now deceased childhood friend and lover, Yahiko.

The sight of a boy who resembled Yahiko was painful enough, but watching him aimlessly and hopelessly walk through the rain as a homeless orphan who needed food and shelter pained Konan's heart and awakened old memories. As such, she followed the young Uzumaki as he found a small area beneath a closed stand to sit down and curl into a ball, presumably waiting for the next morning.

Konan was not blind, nor was she poorly informed, and thus knew something else about the boy that many others in Konoha didn't – he was not only the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, but the son of the Kage who sealed the beast into his gut.

As Konan watched Naruto with fascination and despair, she realized yet another thing connecting them – it was often said that the bond between sensei and student was not too different from that of a child and its parent. Thus, Naruto could be considered her nephew. The boy's father was Minato, whose sensei was Jiraiya, who also taught herself, Nagato, and Yahiko all those years ago.

This final connection spurned Konan into action. While she knew that this boy would eventually have to die, she could, at the very least, give him a chance. Who knows, perhaps saving this boy could help heal the old wound in Konan's heart, even if it was just a little bit. Trusting in her anonymity, Konan used her chakra to convert her cloak into paper once more, before restructuring it into a dark blue robe and jacket, before floating down to the ground, and walking to a nearby store, a stall from the looks of things.

"Excuse me." She said, observing the middle-aged man and young girl behind the counter.

"Yes?" Responded the man with a smile, and Konan observed no ulterior motives in either person as they responded.

"There is a young boy who appears to be cold and hungry outside, may I pay for some food for him?" The man's smile turned into an expression of worry, before settling on a satisfied expression.

"Of course! We'll even give you both a bowl on the house, you for your kindness, and him for whatever he's going through." Konan's eyes widened, and she started to make a protest. She was an S-ranked Kunoichi, and rather good at reading people, but she didn't expect such kindness from the older man. To Konan, the only good Konoha-nin was Jiraiya-sensei, and even he abandoned her.

"Nonsense, nonsense. Ayame, please make sure this woman gets a seat, and make sure she gets a mug of hot tea – it's far too cold out there, even during this season." While a part of Konan knew she could escape in over one thousand different ways, she was here on an infiltration mission, and knew that if she performed shinobi techniques, she would be under suspicion, as she wasn't wearing Konoha shinobi attire, nor did she have a headband.

Also, the young girl, who Konan assumed to be the ramen chef's daughter, had a grip of iron, and escorted Konan, took her 'jacket', which luckily stayed in that form, before handing the blue-haired woman a mug of hot, strong tea, before talking to her animatedly.

"Wow, nee-san! I've never seen anyone so beautiful! Tell me, what are you; an actress, a princess, or an angel?" Konan felt a brief prickle of amusement and surprise at the last possibility – 'angel' was a term used to describe Konan frequently within the Amegakure rebellion. Despite herself, Konan smiled.

As one of the surviving Ame Orphans, an Akatsuki leader from its fledgeling days until now, and as someone who spent much of her time surrounded by the corpse-puppet of her lover animated by her best friend, Konan rarely felt that things could ever be innocent. However, Konan's heart, however unused in current times, went out to children, to orphans, and to those who reminded her of the good old days.

The young girl in the white bandana and robe, with her bright and innocent optimism, reminded Konan of herself from the times before she met Jiraiya-sensei, before he left, and before Yahiko's death.

"I'm none of those, but thank you for the kind words. I'm just a traveler, visiting the old home of the man who raised me years ago. As such, this is my first time in Konohagakure, and I must admit, it is quite the beautiful village. I must admit, I envy the fact that you can grow up here." While some parts of Konan's response were true, and others not so much, she did feel that this side of Konoha was the type of peaceful place Yahiko wanted to make. How ironic that Konoha played such a primary role in Yahiko's death.

As Konan took another sip of her tea, she saw the older man bringing the young, scrawny blonde inside. Now that he was closer, Konan could see the whiskers on his tanned cheeks, and his large blue eyes, looking at her with such wonder that only a child could possess.

True to their word, the ramen chef and his daughter, owners of Ichiraku Ramen, gave each of them a free bowl, but Konan ended up paying for the four more bowls that Naruto consumed. Realizing that Naruto's entire head could fit in one of those bowls, she wondered where all of it could have gone, but then remembered that in her younger, hungrier days, she had witnessed their old puppy, Chibi, eat entire loaves of bread without changing from the scrawny dog he had originally been.

Konan talked much less during her time in the Ichiraku family's ramen bar, but did listen to Naruto's conversation with Ayame and Teuchi. Just from overhearing him, Konan learned a lot about the young jinchuriki – he didn't know his parents, idolized the Yondaime, knew the Sandaime without knowing that he did, and only had one friend in the orphanage, a girl not much older than him.

As Naruto filled up and conversation drew to a close, Konan took her leave, placing her 'jacket' back on, as she left in the rain. Deciding to stay around for several more days in order to complete her mission, as she preferred peace to civil war any day of the week, Konan vanished as a stream of paper, as if she never existed to begin with.

For Naruto's part, he left the Ichiraku family much later, as he stayed the night with them once he told them he no longer had a home, but still vowed to find the woman who had seen him in the rain and thank her. The next morning, the Hokage gave him an apartment and life went on in Konohagakure, but for its Jinchuriki, much was changed – not only did Naruto have a new favorite restaurant and food, but a new chapter in his life, as he obtained an apartment and monthly stipend from the Sandaime Hokage.

The stormy seasons of Konoha were well-documented, and most people felt some level of annoyance, wishing they would go away soon. For Naruto, the rain that was so hated turned into his new daybreak.

 **Motivation is high, midichlorian count is higher. I hope everyone is happy in this last week of June, and I hope that those of you who have read this far will give me suggestions for a longer story - I have something in mind, and hope to emulate some writing tricks I've seen be successful in other, better-written fics.**

 **Regardless, I hope everyone is having a good, happy, utterly and annoyingly joyful day.**

 **EDIT (6/26): This fic will become larger than a one-shot. As of right now, I am working on uploading documents and backing up my computer in preparation for repairs and upgrades to several key components. As such, my actual writing will be _delayed_ for several days, due to my computer not being present. That being said, I have a document with a few chapters in progress, and I should be able to crest the 15,000 word mark if I keep up my current pace. **

**~KoS**


	2. Chapter 2: Naruto and Tenshi

**Hello. This will now be a longer story, and thus more has to be written for it :).**

 **Please give me feedback on this chapter, the previous one, and future ones - what am I doing well, what could be improved? I am always looking for good feedback.**

The stormy seasons of Konoha were well-documented, and most people treated them with caution.

The orphans of Konoha had no different an experience, and as Tenten looked out of the orphanage windows, she wondered about her first and only friend – Naruto. Orphans were adopted more and more frequently, because more families found themselves recovering economically from the Kyuubi attack, but Naruto hadn't been adopted. All adoptions took time, and the adopted children were allowed to visit their friends, and were given a day to say goodbye, and pack up their things.

Naruto received no such treatment. From a young age, Tenten's only friend was treated poorly, the other kids would run away from him, and those kids outside the orphanage were told to stay away from him.

Tenten saw things differently – she knew Naruto had a good heart, despite his quirks. It was Naruto, after all, who had told her that her dream to be a strong kunoichi was a good one. It was Naruto who shared his food with her and put on a brave face, even when she knew his suffering was greater than hers. It was Naruto who Tenten wanted to protect for once, inspiring her to join the Academy.

Sighing, Tenten wondered what had happened to her old friend, and knew in her heart of hearts that she might not see him for a long time. Even so, she vowed that she would one day see him again, and whenever she did, she wouldn't let him vanish again.

Two days later, Naruto was wandering around Konoha again. Despite all the changes in his life, from having a new home, to learning about his Jiji being the Hokage, to slowly but surely learning how to manage his own money, one factor remained at the back of his head, not mentioned to anyone: the woman. Who had she been? Why did she do what she did? Was she still here?

The part of Naruto that was even more of a dreamer than he normally was wondered if she was his long-lost mother, returning to help her orphan son out. This last thought made Naruto's heart clench, but he knew that he needed to find her, at the very least to thank her.

As such, when Naruto glimpsed the mop of blue hair in the streets below him, Naruto leapt into action. As he got to the street below, he couldn't see her, but he knew which direction she was walking in. If he was right, she was coming closer to the civilian districts. Naruto knew he wasn't liked there, but this task, this self-imposed mission, took precedence.

Working his way towards the civilian district with a very rough sense of his direction, Naruto kept his eyes moving, looking from side to side, and behind him, in the event the woman was there. Thus, Naruto was surprised when he knocked headfirst into someone, and looked up to find the very person he was searching for.

"Oops, please excuse me, ma'am." Said Naruto, feeling rather embarrassed. Konan raised a single eyebrow, wondering what the odds were that she would run into the village's jinchuriki two times in her mission.

"No problem." Replied Konan, starting to walk off.

"Wait, please!" Konan turned to see Naruto running towards her again. "Why did you pay for my ramen that night?" Konan looked towards Naruto, expression unreadable.

"Back where I am from, there are many children like yourselves – hungry, without parents, without a home for the night." Strangely enough, Naruto seemed displeased by this answer. Konan filed this tidbit away as Naruto followed up with another question.

"Is that the only reason?" Konan saw the Jinchuriki's eyes light up. Was he expecting some type of response?

"Yes." Said Konan, as Naruto frowned again. Konan, all too used to seeing that expression on Yahiko's face during his so-called 'crybaby years', frowned and turned towards him.

"What is it?"

"You said 'where you're from' before, and I've never seen you around Konoha before. Are you going to leave me alone?" It took Konan a few seconds before she realized why Naruto was so clingy despite having one or two interactions – aside from that Jiji of his, and one friend, he was alone up until she took pity on him.

"I am going to leave tomorrow, yes." Said Konan, watching as the Yahiko look-alike's face dropped, "But I can stay in contact." Internally, Konan was berating herself for saying this – she would eventually not only play a direct role in his inevitable death by Kyuubi extraction, but would have an indirect role too by passing along intel about him to Pein and Madara.

Additionally, should she decide to keep in touch with Naruto, staying in contact with a six-year-old boy while trying to be a major leader of a civil war was highly difficult, and could hinder her work.

Watching as Naruto looked expectant, Konan pulled a slightly larger sheet of paper than she usually used for jutsu, and Naruto looked on in awe as she formed a small paper angel, based off of a rather popular design in the ground forces under the Akatsuki.

Naruto inspected it as she handed it to him, and Konan watched in approval as he did everything he could to avoid damaging it.

"What does it do?" He asked, looking at it again.

"This will let you talk to me. If you are alone and outside the village, speak into the angel and I will hear you." Naruto frowned.

"If this lets me talk to you, why not just stay in the village?" Naruto seemed puzzled.

"Because I am very busy, and if I don't get home, people I care about might get hurt." This was a blatant lie – Nagato was nigh unkillable due to his Rikudo, but the excuse should hold up.

"Oh… If you're busy, do you not want me to bug you? I promise to only use it if I'm in trouble…" Said Naruto, looking at the little angel once more.

"You don't need to use it that rarely, but I might not be able to respond some of the time." Konan said, delicately.

"Alright, I guess…" Said Naruto, looking at his feet. Seeing the boy in a bit of a conversational rut, Konan sighed.

"Would you like to get ramen tonight, before I leave?" Naruto grinned, and Konan knew that the boy had been placated. As Konan walked off, she pondered her actions.

Konan was someone very distinctly in control of her actions, and she was someone whose emotional control was quite possibly even greater than Nagato's, who was subject to occasional bouts of fury, and Madara's, who seemed rather arbitrary. Although, Konan reasoned, if he truly was Madara Uchiha, he was powerful enough to get away with being arbitrary.

Nevertheless, her emotional stability was very high, and her decision-making was usually rational and logically sound – why then was she so fixated on this boy, this child on a time limit?

Konan knew the answer: Naruto reminded her of Yahiko; from his carefree, upbeat attitude, to his spiky hair, even to the circumstances of his life – suffering for something out of control, and his suffering itself – hunger, hopelessness, and, for however brief a time, homelessness.

Even so, Konan could also think of ways that the two boys were different: Yahiko was determined, he was someone who could lead others, who could inspire hope in them. Based on Konan's limited knowledge and experience with the Uzumaki, Naruto was clingy and submissive, a dreamer who had no idea about the end goal for his ambitions.

He was hungry, but not starving like the Ame Orphans had. He was homeless, but in a big city, being watched over by the Hokage. He was suffering, but he didn't have to watch his pet dog die on the battlefield.

As Konan returned to her temporary residence inside Konoha, she finished up the intel she was working on, folding it into paper and placing it within her hair, where it turned into several locks. Konan's paper jutsu was beyond genius level by many shinobi standards, but what made Konan truly S-rank was not only the jutsu itself, but how insanely flexible it made her shinobi skills.

Intel could become a part of her body, which could in turn become explosive tags or other sealed tags, which could then reform, and allow her to control which parts of her body, cloak, or other clothing would be 'injured'.

Later, Konan ate ramen with Naruto. The boy seemed more subdued than he was several nights ago, but still chattered animatedly with Ayame and Teuchi. It seemed that Naruto had come back several times before, looking for someone, said Teuchi with a pointed glance at the Ame kunoichi.

As night fell, Konan paid for the ramen, reminded Naruto that he could talk with her, and departed. Naruto watched her leave the booth, and frowned. By the time he got outside to hopefully see her one last time before she left, the Angel of Ame was gone.

 **The next chapter should be out in a week or so. The story itself is all on one document, so I am just continually adding to it. I won't give the word count right now, but this story's full length probably won't crest 100k words. It might, but it probably won't.**

 **Have a good day and week!**

 **~KoS**


	3. Chapter 3: Rescue

**I've been enjoying writing shorter chapters, between 1-3k words. What do you all think is the ideal length for a chapter?**

 **In response to ShulkXMelia23: Glad to have your attention :). Storms are a piece of this story that pop up here and there, and I want them to call back to the Naruto we see in chapter one: alone, and perhaps downtrodden, but on the cusp of bouncing back, with a bright dawn in the future.**

 **Anyhow, for those of you in Canada and the US celebrating Canada Day & Independence Day respectively, I hope you all had wonderful celebrations.**

 **With that, the show continues!**

Several years later, Naruto found himself in a sticky situation. You see, his birthday was October tenth, the same day that the Kyuubi rampaged and destroyed parts of Konoha, killing many, and forcing the Yondaime to sacrifice his life to save the village, eight years before.

As such, the day was packed with activities, from the early-morning memorial service remembering the deceased and mourning their Yondaime, who was something of a larger-than-life figure for most people.

As the memorial ended, the unofficial traditions started, where many civilians would run any foxes out of the city, and those that weren't run out found their lifespans ending prematurely. As the sun set and the air grew cold, shops turned on their lights, and hung bright red lanterns. Stalls were set up by other civilians, allowing for a huge range of festival-type games to become available for the night. Many bars offered significant discounts to the shinobi who fought the Kyuubi as well as the ones who fought in the Third Shinobi World War.

While one might think that Naruto would enjoy his birthday and a major festival overlapping, that 'one' would be very wrong. For some reason unknown to Naruto, people became especially hostile to him in the days leading up to the festival, and downright terrifying on the day itself, partly due to the amount that people drank.

The year before, Naruto had simply sat in his apartment alone, while thinking about things. Naruto knew that it wasn't fair that he couldn't be a part of the festivities safely, but at least the Ichiraku family gave him discounts from time to time, Jiji visited, and his new academy teacher, Iruka-sensei, seemed to be warming up to him. For Naruto, these things were as good as gifts, and felt that he should count his lucky stars he had all of them, even though Naruto knew he missed his oldest friend, and wondered how she was, and during Naruto's more depressing times, whether she was happier without him in her life.

This year, Naruto came up with a plan as he walked home from the memorial – what if he found somewhere nice and alone where he could talk to the paper angel? Thus, Naruto worked up a plan. He didn't know why she insisted he be alone while talking to the angel, but he knew that his apartment was close to the festivities. If he had to be alone because it had trouble picking up his voice or something like that, Naruto didn't want to drown out his voice with the sounds of whatever on earth was going on out there.

Naruto's pen-pal of sorts communicated in an unusual way. Naruto would verbally speak to the angel, and a response would last until he read it. As Naruto had started at the academy not too long after meeting the woman, he had started to be able to tell when ink was fresh, and when it was a few hours old, and Naruto had come home from the academy to see an hours-old, neatly-written message that faded when he saw it, and he had also seen messages which wrote themselves and then erased themselves before his very eyes.

Despite his contact with the woman, Naruto was still walking on metaphorical eggshells. She was important to him, and he didn't want to risk pushing her away and make her hate him like the villagers, so he tried to write as neatly as he could, and avoided asking (or, for that matter, saying) anything that could be interpreted badly.

The responses he received were usually on the shorter side, but blunt and helpful. When he asked how she made the angel, she said she couldn't answer how she made it work in the way that it did, but told him that he could use origami to make things out of paper. Thus, Naruto started an origami collection, and always made sure to tell Konan when he made something new.

When he told her about the new animals and shapes he made, her advice was straightforward: keep improving, keep practicing, and don't let origami distract him from doing well in the academy. Naruto took her advice to heart, but should he really be expected to do too well in the academy – Naruto was sure that the lady didn't have to deal with such boring lectures every day! He was technically right, but had no idea that she had grown up in a more violent land than he could dream of.

Thus, Naruto left his apartment when the late-night festivities started, but was quickly tracked down by several shinobi and a small crowd of civilians, all roaring drunk.

Unfortunately for Naruto, several things were not in his favor tonight – the team of ANBU that normally protected him, led by Hatake Kakashi, had the day off, and each of the team members had cooked some food item and brought it to Kakashi's apartment, having a team meal and being there for their captain, who they knew was in an entirely different league of suffering and likely wouldn't go through the effort to cook anything.

Additionally, the guards at the gate of Konoha were not Izumo and Kotetsu, who, while fearing Naruto on some level, wouldn't allow any type of abuse to happen. The current gate guards were two shinobi who had both lost their families to the Kyuubi rampage, and were more than willing to let Naruto and the crowd pass outside the village walls to 'punish the little bastard' as long as they got back in without too much fuss.

Additionally, Naruto's precious people were all occupied – Iruka and his coworker and friend Mizuki were listening to the Yondaime's old guard platoon as they told stories of their former Hokage.

The Ichiraku family was serving up ramen, with the elder of the two working with extra zeal as tears streamed down the older man's face. In addition to mourning the people who died, he was also mourning Minato and Kushina – not only as Hokage and respected jonin who laid down their lives, but also as his two best customers, and, if his suspicions were accurate, parents to his newest favorite customer.

The Sandaime was suspending his work life for an evening, and walked around the village with his young grandson, who was still a few years off from his academy entrance.

Tenten was playing one of the games related to kunai throwing with her adopted parents, blacksmiths and retired chunin from the third war, who had already grown to love the girl as a daughter.

Fleeing into the woods, Naruto was able to buy himself a little bit of time by hiding and letting the mildly drunk shinobi and civilians wander by him. The instant he thought he was safe, Naruto brought out his origami angel before whispering into it.

"Some people are chasing me through the woods, and they have shinobi with them. They said they're going to punish the demon. I don't know what to do, please give me advice." Naruto looked at the angel, hoping for advice. His advice came in three short words: "Hide, buy time." Whispered Naruto, watching as the words faded. Unfortunately, one of the shinobi chasing him was an Inuzuka.

"Guys! He's over here!" Said the man, whose ninken was barking towards the tree stump Naruto was hiding in. Realizing he was surrounded, Naruto frantically whispered into the origami.

"They're surrounding me. I can't get away. I don't know what to do and I don't want to die." Whispered Naruto, hoping beyond hope that something would happen. Naruto covered himself as the crowd charged, and felt several punches settle on him, before the shouting of the crowd was replaced by what sounded like slashing and screaming. Still covering his head and scrunching his eyes shut, Naruto had no idea what happened, but after feeling no more blows and hearing nothing from the crowd, Naruto opened his eyes, and felt horror at what he saw.

Every single person who was hunting him down was dead – each one of them cut down by what looked like hundreds of cuts each. Realizing someone, or possibly something was above him, Naruto looked to see the woman from two years ago, except for several key differences. Firstly, she wore a black cloak with red clouds, and sprouting out of her back were angelic-looking wings made of paper. Blinking, Naruto realized that this was the same type of paper his origami angel was made of.

"Naruto-kun, are you alright?" Asked Konan, her cold voice not clearly showing the concern she had for the boy.

"Whoa…" Said Naruto, looking at his savior once more. "Wait a second… You're a ninja!" Konan nodded, before repeating her question a little more forcefully.

"Uh, yeah… I'm fine I guess." Said Naruto, knowing his injuries would heal themselves – they always did. "What did you do to them?"

"I punished them for taking out their anger on an innocent child." Said Konan, looking and sounding the part of a vengeful angel. As Naruto was not used to anyone having such direct concern for him, he blushed ever so slightly.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" Asked Naruto. Several minutes later, the two of them had a new relationship. Instead of savior and saved, they were secretly sensei and student. Konan agreed to send Naruto scrolls with basic techniques until he graduated from the academy, with the condition that she would send him the techniques themselves, and not how to make use of them. She would give Naruto the pieces, and allow him to make his own works.

As Konan vanished and Naruto returned to his apartment, he promised to himself that he would tell anyone who asked that he had been in his apartment all night. He didn't know why his new sensei to remain silent, but he knew one thing: once or twice, Ayame had told Naruto about her brief conversation with his new sensei, and she once asked if the woman was an angel. It seemed that she was closer to the truth than she knew.

 **And that's a wrap.**

 **When would be the most convenient time to publish a chapter? I am thinking about weekly updates, or perhaps every few days. Perhaps Friday & Tuesday uploads, or Saturday & Wednesday? **

**Regardless, good day.**

 **~KoS**


	4. Chapter 4: The Start of Team 7

**Responses were good yesterday, and suggestions were extremely valuable. As momentum is high, I figured I would send out this next one as a reward, and a thanks for the support. Here are some replies:**

 **ShulkXMelia23: Thanks for your support, and for your flexibility when it comes to chapters being sent out. Enjoy this one :).**

 **ReddFoxx: I have a number of chapters either pre-written or outlined, so sending them out isn't too difficult. Please enjoy this one, and thanks for the support.**

 **Ejammer: Thank you for the praise. I tried to model this story in a similar light to some of the great stories about Naruto/other characters being influenced by the Akatsuki, most notably "Asunder" by Ziltoid, "Old Man by the Bar" by Varmint (That story is extremely underrated, and I encourage everyone reading to give it a shot), and "Devils Advocate", along with "The Cost of Living", two really incredible stories written by livezinshadowz. I haven't seen a really strong story where Naruto is taught by some of the Akatsuki members, including Konan.**

 **Lazruth: I tend to agree with your perspective on timing. Oddly enough, 'biweekly' can also refer to two times a week, for some bizarre reason. Regardless, I will try to upload two times a week if the chapters are short.**

 **With those responses taken care of, please enjoy.**

As Hatake Kakashi observed the files on his new team, he wondered about what he read about the student he should be closest to, in theory. Naruto Uzumaki had much less on his file than Kakashi expected. The Uchiha nearly had an entire file to his name, mostly due to the papers upon papers of psychoanalysis and mental health evaluations due his clan's near-extinction. The civilian girl had very little paperwork to her name, just a sheet or two of paper listing basic information about her, with a picture and her grades.

In theory, Naruto should have nearly as much paperwork as Sasuke, not only with him being the dead-last, but due to his unorthodox graduation from the academy, his status as Konoha's military ace, and as someone who has had very little family exposure.

Of course, while Kakashi could _imagine_ a world where he had this team and looked out for Naruto like the elder brother Minato-sensei had planned for him to be, Kakashi knew his luck with teammates. His entire original team was dead, along with his sensei's wife, the closest thing to an elder sister he had. His mother died when he was an infant, and his father committed suicide only a few years later. In his ANBU team, one of his members had a psychotic break and killed his entire family, while another two found themselves slain by said ex-member.

In fact, the only people who were realistically close to Kakashi, or at least as close as one could be, were the Sandaime, his superior, Yugao and Tenzo, his two surviving subordinates, and Gai. What a horrifying time to be alive, mused Kakashi, in a world where a spandex-wearing, bowlcut-hair-ing(?), youth-obsessed man who spent half of his off time running around on his hands was the closest thing to a best friend he had left.

Removing himself from these thoughts, Kakashi once more looked over Naruto's spreadsheet of information. All that was really present was that he was an orphan, a stable jinchuriki, bottom-of-the-bucket academy student, and had a few miscellaneous hobbies that weren't mentioned in any realistic detail.

Later on, as Kakashi met with his team, he saved the blonde for last. The first two were about as he expected – Sakura seemed rather vain with no stable career goals, and Sasuke was a borderline sociopath. Naruto, on the other hand, carried much less of the bluster that Kakashi had seen in the boy's younger days, when he was part of the squad that looked out for the resident Uzumaki.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and origami, I dislike a few things, I suppose. My hobbies are origami, calligraphy, and fishing. I have a few dreams, the biggest of which is becoming Hokage, and… I think that's it, isn't it, Kakashi-sensei?" The Naruto that Kakashi remembered dealing with was much like his mother – a ball of energy who cared little about rules and even less about punishments for pranking.

This Naruto was much more mild-mannered, and where did this love of origami come from? In what world was Kushina Uzumaki's offspring patient enough to learn and practice origami to any degree? And _calligraphy?_ Kakashi could remember how there were times when Obito's abysmal scrawl was only the second-worst handwriting among people he knew and cared about.

The next morning, Naruto came to the training ground of Kakashi's designation with a couple pieces of broiled fish, a brush, some ink, and some tags. Humming as he worked, Naruto noticed that he was the first one to the training field. Perhaps arriving _this_ early was a mistake, especially given how late his sensei had shown up the day before.

Glad that he had followed his primary sensei's advice and brought something to keep him occupied along with something to make his teammates happy with him, Naruto hummed a happy little tune as he got to work with his tag creation.

Soon afterwards, Naruto waved hello to his teammates, who arrived a few minutes before the exam start. After reminding them that he it was a poor choice to train on an empty stomach, he set the plate with the two fish fillets in front of him, before turning back to his work.

Several hours later, Naruto's smile was becoming more and more forced. His sensei, who he mentally referred to as Tenshi, because he still hadn't learned her name and felt it was too awkward to ask, considering he'd known her for six years, told him to control his emotions more.

As such, Naruto took to being as pleasant as possible, figuring that a smile would be much better 'neutral' expression than anything else. Additionally, Naruto wanted to learn to be as patient as he could, in order to show his appreciation for Tenshi-sensei always being patient with him, and answering his questions.

Despite these traits, Naruto was still the son of Uzumaki Kushina, and even with his goal of being patient, his patience was wearing thin by the second hour of waiting for his sensei. By the time his sensei arrived, Naruto had been sitting down for three and a half hours, and a puppet's smile would look less fixed than Naruto's.

"Sensei." Said Naruto cordially, but Kakashi, ever the veteran shinobi, caught the undercurrent that said something along the lines of ' _You don't know how badly I want to beat you within an inch of your life so that I don't have to sit through this BS again_.' Kakashi was very good at reading people, or, the Hatake mused, perhaps he was quite bad. It was hard to tell, but he still got the gist of the emotions behind the message.

"Ohayo, my kawaii little genin. Are you ready for your test?" One explanation later, and Kakashi found himself standing in a field, noting that the Uchiha and Haruno had hidden themselves well enough to not be immediately seen by their sensei. Naruto, on the other hand, was still writing characters and fuinjutsu markings on blank tags, with a piece and a half of broiled fish on a platter some feet in front of him.

"You know, are you sure you understand the purpose of this test?" Asked Kakashi, lazily observing his student.

"Of course, sensei. Are you sure that you understand the purpose of being on time?" Naruto responded without a beat, and his fake smile was still plastered to his face.

"Maa maa, Naruto-kun. Perhaps I should give you a lesson on shinobi techniques and respecting your sensei, lecture one: taijutsu." With that, Kakashi moved towards Naruto at a speed most genin should be able to react to, but Naruto kept on humming away, lazily finishing his final tag before placing it in his bag, and throwing the bag in the woods. When Kakashi reached Naruto, he threw a kick at the young blonde's face, watching as he replaced himself with a log.

Looking over towards the chuckle coming from the woods, Kakashi saw Naruto leaning back against a tree rather lazily.

"You seem awfully confident for a fresh graduate." Said Kakashi mildly.

"And you seem awfully infuriating for a legendary war hero." Retorted Naruto, before holding up one of the tags he kept with him.

"Fuinjutsu: Maki Kemuri no Jutsu." While Konan didn't give Naruto a lot of high-profile jutsu, and often encouraged Naruto to keep a few tricks hidden up his sleeve, the young Uzumaki was nothing if not creative, so he utilized an alternative technique to the Kirigakure no Jutsu that he had been studying. Also, considering neither he nor Konan knew that particular Hidenjutsu, this made for a good alternative.

Inside the now smoke-covered field, Kakashi was mildly impressed – considering that smokescreen came from a tag, Naruto either had great ninjutsu skills for his age, or rather solid fuinjutsu talent. What came next was rather surprising, but not too far from the imagination – clones, Kage Bunshin, if Kakashi had to make a guess, were making guerilla attacks towards him. Kakashi, while not impressed with the attacks in the slightest, was slightly curious how Naruto's clones managed to move around through the summoned smoke without hitting each other.

Of course, even with the smoke advantage and the communication advantage that Naruto had set up between his clones, this contest wasn't remotely close. The Uzumaki's clones had no synergy outside of the basic sensory technique linking all the tags attached to them together, and as such, Kakashi dealt with them all easily enough, showing so little effort in his taijutsu that Naruto was sure the man hadn't moved his feet, or removed one of his hands from his book. As Kakashi got tired of dealing with yet another wave of Narutos, he used a basic Fuuton jutsu to clear the smoke out. Following this, he sees Naruto in the same position he was before, and Kakashi tilts his head before realizing what was out of place.

"How long have you been a Kage Bunshin?" Naruto laughed.

"Nice work, Kakashi-sensei. How about I tell you after we pass the test?" Said Naruto, as he wandered off into the forest. Assuming the boy had no more tricks up his sleeve, he dove into the trees, not realizing that the area he had leapt in had three or four dozen explosive tags. Realizing his mistake, Kakashi substituted himself out of the way before deciding to check what Sakura and Sasuke were up to before dealing with Naruto.

Kakashi smiled as the alarm clock went off, with the young Uchiha tied to the pole. Naruto had done very little himself, but avoided capture, and did put up a very nice effort for a fresh genin. Sasuke's taijutsu and Katon ninjutsu were quite solid as well, but he could easily see one of Gai's squad trouncing him in that field. As for Sakura… Well… Not every genin is a prodigy, Kakashi supposed. Watching from the trees, Kakashi wondered what his genin would do.

It was obvious that Sakura would try feeding Sasuke, but he wasn't sure what Naruto would do. Little did Kakashi know, this choice was even easier for the blonde.

From what Naruto had seen, only Sakura had some of the fish that he had offered. Sasuke, in his stubbornness, had opted out. While some would look at Sasuke in his hunger and disappointment with himself and laugh, others would see his hunger and disappointment and laugh before giving him respite.

Naruto knew that he owed his Tenshi even more than his life, but didn't know the best way to repay it, so he opted into doing whatever he could to make her proud – training, helping the world, and even learning how to make her favorite food in the event she returned to Konoha.

"Sasuke, you should probably eat." Said Naruto calmly.

"Why, usaratonkachi?"

"Because sensei is giving us one more opportunity to beat him, and he's not here. If we're going to take him on together, I'd rather have you in good health. You don't even have to stuff yourself, teme. Just eat enough to keep up your strength." Relenting, Sasuke allowed Naruto to give him some food. Kakashi, impressed enough, decided to call the test. As of that day, the newest link in a chain of teaching would begin, and the sensei-student line that began with the first Hokage would remain unbroken.

 **I will likely not upload tomorrow, but perhaps next week. Again, I welcome any and all feedback you all can provide, but for now I have a new question: What do you predict the ending of this story to be? It's very far out, and it could go any number of ways, but I'm curious how you all feel about it. Just so it's said, I have the bulk of the story mapped out, at least mentally. I likely won't be changing the trajectory of this story based on responses (unless there's one that really knocks it out of the park), but it's an interesting question and I'd like to hear your perspectives.**

 **Have a good weekend!**

 **~KoS**


	5. Chapter 5: Demon of Mist, Child of Snow

**Hi all. Apparently replying to reviews and asking questions opened the door to a lot of good discussion, and I'm grateful for the experience to interact with you all. As such, I'm going to reply to them below. However, before that, I wish to point out a couple milestones that we hit - most notably 1k hits, 10 reviews, and over 30 favorites and follows. While these stats are generally considered quite small, the support for a small 8k word story like my own makes me grateful to have such active, passionate readers.**

 **Without further ado, here are my review responses. I will likely have a question at the end of this chapter, so keep your eyes peeled for that.**

 **Naruita14: Merci beaucoup. Je ne parle pas français, mais merci pour le soutien.**

 **ShulkXMelia23: There's a lot to unpack in your review, so I'm going have a very broad response: you have a lot of ideas about what could happen, so I'm merely going to say some pieces are more accurate than others, but some parts are so accurate I'm wondering if you have access to my brain. Thanks for taking the time to write such a lengthy piece.**

 **Lazruth: I agree with your point 100%. One of the issues I've found in previous fics I've written is that the burnout gets fairly prevalent. In a previous fic or two (Will not name which ones), I was basically writing chapters in response to the dopamine hit of getting reviews. With this story, I've tried writing more and more beforehand so that I don't get in such a place. Of course, you all spoil me with reviews, so it's a bit of a moot point nonetheless. Thank you for the support.**

 **ReddFoxx: Thank you for your insight, and for the spelling correction - I'll try to fix that around the time of this chapter being released. Something that really appealed to me about this prompt was the fact that there were so many ways this story could go. Keep in mind, this started as a one-shot, and so every chapter after the fact is proof of deviation from the original idea. I hope this story keeps you on your toes, and thanks again for the support.**

 **EDIT: This is the revamped version of Chapter 5. A common thread throughout almost all reviews for Ch. 5 was disappointment in the quality of the chapter, and if I may be honest, I agree fully. I feel that of all the chapters I've written, released and not, OG Ch. 5 is by far the worst. Therefore, please enjoy the new version. If you saw the bad version and are glad for the changes, thank ShulkXMelia23 and RedFoxx for rightly pointing out that the chapter was not up to standard.**

"Kakashi-sensei, may we get a C-rank mission?" Asked Naruto. You see, not too long before this, Kakashi had sent his team on a simple enough mission: Get the Daimyo's wife's cat. Simple? Not in the goddamned slightest.

At the time of Naruto asking this, his clothes were ripped in several places, and he had a scratch mark in a place nearly identical to Kakashi's old war scar. Sakura's dress was ripped and her face looked like a chef had tried to dice it. Badly. Sasuke was brooding, but the only reason this was notable was because of the subtle sakki pouring out of him towards the cat in his arms.

Of course, this was only the _most_ infuriating of the bunch of D-ranks he had been assigned ever since becoming a member of Team 7.

"You really want one? Huh. I guess we can take something. Sandaime-sama, what can we take?" Several minutes later, Naruto and Co. were walking towards Nami no Kuni, helping an old drunk finish his bridge while protecting him.

In the road, Naruto noticed a puddle in the middle. He frowned. You see, after his numerous experiences seeing the summer storms and winter rains of Konoha, Naruto grew to understand roughly how long rain lasted for. At this point in time, summer had been ongoing for a pretty decent period of time, and followed up a hot and dry spring season. There was no conceivable explanation for the puddle – it looked like someone was trying to make the most natural-looking puddle possible.

"Kaka-sensei, can we stop for a second?" Asked Naruto, as Kakashi nodded. Naruto ran into the trees, and pulled out three or four kunai, wrapping every single inch of them with Paper bombs.

As Naruto threw them at the puddle, the two shinobi within got up, preparing to move, but they expected a normal kunai, or perhaps a kunai with a smoke bomb, not _thirty-seven_ paper bombs.

Three seconds later, Kakashi sighed as he observed Tazuna, who had wet himself at the sight of a major explosion that ripped up the road, leaving a crater in it.

The two unfortunate saps within the puddle were on either side of the crater, their clothes singed, and second or third degree burns on their now-exposed skin.

"Well done, Naruto. Those are the Oni Kyodai of Kirigakure, and they're worth a pretty penny." Shame he couldn't tell what on earth they were doing there.

"Nice! What rank are they?" Kakashi's head tilted.

"I think they're chunin?" Naruto looked excited.

"You're telling me I defeated two chunin on my own?" Kakashi shook his head.

"I think they defeated themselves by not looking at your kunai, if I'm being honest." Naruto's face fell. "Still, not too badly done."

Several hours later, they were within Nami no Kuni, though still in the wilderness. As they continued on, Naruto accidentally frightened a snow rabbit with a kunai, bringing Kakashi to awareness about the gravity of their situation.

One thrown blade and Kirigakure no Jutsu later, and Kakashi realized who exactly he was against, and prepared to take things seriously. The battle, epic as it was, ended in a disappointing fashion – namely because it was ended with senbon from a hunter-nin. Naruto was greatly displeased at this – he had used smoke, paper bombs, transformation into Fuuma shuriken, and numerous other little tricks to prove himself, but all that was needed was a pair of senbon.

To Naruto's delight, the legendary swordsman had complimented Naruto on his "creative but annoying" combination of Maki Kemuri no Jutsu, and numerous paper bombs attached to kunai, all thrown at Zabuza via Kage Bunshin.

It was only later on that Naruto was told that Zabuza was likely still alive, and the young Uzumaki worried greatly for his health, should the Kiri swordsman seek revenge.

As Naruto woke up the next morning, he groaned as he looked around the clearing he was in.

"You may want to get up soon, or you'll get a cold." Naruto turned, and witnessed what appeared to be a young woman in a pink yukata.

"Ah, sorry there, I was training." Said Naruto, but he was on guard. Her movements made little noise, and _should_ have woken him up.

"Training hard, judging by the state of this place. Are you a ninja?" Naruto nodded.

"A Konoha shinobi, and future Hokage. How about yourself? What are you doing outside in such dangerous times?" The woman smiled.

"I'm collecting herbs for my precious person. He saved my life when I was younger, and now is not well. Could you help me out?" Naruto nodded, collecting herbs, but intentionally stopped himself from gathering too many, given the fact that she was probably a shinobi.

Of course, Naruto was also possibly helping them by gathering herbs in the first place, but this was more because he could understand and would undoubtedly do the same for his own savior.

"So, you intend to become Hokage?" Naruto nodded, and the woman continued talking. "Do you have anyone precious, someone who you would protect?" Naruto could think of some off the top of his head easily – his savior, Iruka, Teuchi and Ayame, the Sandaime, Tenten, and perhaps even his own team and Konohamaru. Naruto didn't quite know _how_ far he would protect them, but he definitely would to the best of his ability.

"Yeah. I have a few I would protect." The person smiled, and placed the last of the herbs within her basket.

"It was nice to talk to you. My name is Haku." The newly named Haku turned around and started walking away. "And also, I'm a boy." With that, Naruto's eyes widened. His mind was stuck on a simple word: What?

Of course, as Naruto paced the coast now, hours later, he thought not about fear for his own life, but pondered the possibilities in front of him: now that he had seen the real Kirigakure no Jutsu, Naruto wondered how he could better prepare for battle.

He had utilized one of the scrolls Konan gave him to create the Ping Tags that he had used on each of his clones, in order to allow them to locate each other via chakra waves, but Zabuza was a master of stealth in circumstances of reduced visibility, and so Maki Kemuri was clearly a poor choice.

Of course, changing one of his clones into a Fuuma Shuriken was an ingenious move during his battle with Zabuza before, but it was spur of the moment, and Naruto didn't feel fully comfortable with that – he had, after all, seen dozens of people cut down in a second by Tenshi's paper ninjutsu, or 'Kamininjutsu', as she called them.

Therefore, Naruto was walking the coast during this free time, and started theory-crafting, as he looked at the bridge. How would he fight when the time came? How would Zabuza fight? His accomplice? What about the rest of Gato's thugs? Therefore, Naruto's mind went through scenarios, some good, some bad, in order to prepare for battle.

Days later, Naruto found himself along with his team in front of the bridge, viewing the sight of dozens of knocked out workers. After training and preparing for the possibility of a rematch with Zabuza along with his apprentice, that day was finally here. As Tazuna was guarded by Sakura, and Zabuza fought Kakashi, that only left the masked, long-haired individual to fight Naruto and Sasuke.

As Naruto and Sasuke prepared to fight Zabuza's accomplice, Naruto started to realize just who he was facing, but the instant he said the word 'Haku', the boy trapped the Team 7 boys in his ice mirrors, before showering them with senbon. Luckily, one set of seals that Naruto prepared made him more ready for this battle than anticipated. Pulling out two of his Shosen tags, Naruto attached one to his teammate, and one to himself.

To the amazement of Haku and Sasuke, the two Team 7 members' wounds started healing – the bleeding stopped, and the cuts sealed themselves shut. Realizing that Naruto would turn this battle into a war of attrition if he had any more of those troublesome tags, Haku dashed through the mirrors once more, before kicking Naruto through one of his own mirrors, off of the bridge, into the ocean below.

Upon seeing his teammate (who, as Sasuke would never admit under any circumstances, was a lot like him) kicked off of the bridge, Sasuke's Uchiha blood kicked into gear, and his eyes became scarlet red, with one tomoe in each eye. The Sharingan was unlocked, and the battle between Sasuke and Haku was heating up.

As the Uchiha threw another kunai, he managed to force Haku's trajectory to change in mid-air, and he was unable to get back in his mirror. Landing on the ground, Haku was unable to get back into his Hyoton mirrors, as he found himself locked in another taijutsu battle.

After several minutes of trading blows, however, Sasuke found himself stabbed through the calf with an ice spike – apparently Haku had somehow managed to weave signs despite being locked into a taijutsu battle. Naturally, Sasuke screamed, drawing the attention of both boys' sensei.

Zabuza and Kakashi looked over, causing a brief lull in their battle, as they both became aware of an explosion taking place _beneath_ Zabuza. As the man turned to see Naruto behind him, kunai in hand, Kakashi saw his opportunity, and dashed forward with his Chidori.

What neither Naruto nor Kakashi expected was the Hyoton child to throw himself into the Chidori, gripping Kakashi's arms so that he couldn't escape in time. Kakashi's eyes widened as he realized the child was already dead, and that Zabuza was preparing to cut through the kid to get him.

Kakashi leapt out of the way as quickly as he could, before lying the kid on the ground. Kakashi stared at Zabuza – that cut should have come much faster, but he hesitated. Did he care about his comrade, or was something else going on?

Zabuza laughed.

"It seems that the kid came in handy after all. Not bad at all." Naruto was enraged. He recalled the worst night of his life, when he was alone, scared, and resigned to death, but was saved at the last second by Tenshi-sensei.

"Haku cared about you so much, you bastard! Are you really gonna sit there like he didn't matter to you at all?" Naruto was enraged, even more so than Zabuza's statement could cause within him, but Naruto wouldn't realize why until much later, after the battle – if push came to shove, he would die for Tenshi-sensei too.

It was then that Zabuza and Kakashi consciously realized that the short blonde was right behind the Kiri missing-nin, and the Hatake charged back into combat in order to buy Naruto space to escape. As Zabuza blocked Kakashi's first strike and kicked Naruto back, Kakashi managed to slash one of the key joints in his arm, forcing the Demon of the Mist to use his weaker arm to hold the blade.

From that point on, the fight became much more one-sided. Instead of Kakashi dodging death by mere centimeters, Zabuza's strikes were wide, his steps wild and unmeasured, his emotions running rampant, but still somewhat contained.

"Zabuza, you'll never beat me." Said Kakashi, as he put a Chidori through Zabuza's other arm, and Zabuza realized it too.

"You've become unhinged, you aren't even following your mission anymore." Said Kakashi, realizing what Naruto hadn't.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Roared Zabuza, before another voice cut them off.

"Well well, look at the mighty Demon of the Mist, and his bastard Hyoton sidekick." Said a short man in an expensive suit, who Kakashi presumed to be Gato. What surprised Zabuza was the crowd of mercenaries behind him.

"What's this, Gato?" Gato didn't respond immediately, but walked over to Haku's corpse before kicking it once or twice. At this point, Naruto's anger was nearly driving him feral over the state of a kindred spirit.

"You know, after your first battle I realized that you weren't worth the money I'd have to pay you, so why not do things more effectively?" With that, Gato snapped his fingers, as the forms of Tsunami and Inari, Tazuna's last relatives, came forward, bound and gagged.

"So, Tazuna the bridge builder, I have your last family here. If you don't submit yourself right here, right now, you and Zabuza won't be the only ones dying today." With that, Tazuna made to move forward, but Naruto stopped him, shaking his head.

"Sorry, Gato-san." Gato turned towards the smiling blonde. "We figured you would try something like this." Said Naruto, as the two 'civilians' removed their henge, showing they were Naruto's bunshin. Naruto's bunshin, covered in explosive tags.

"The real Tsunami and Inari are safe, hiding in another room. All I needed to do was provide a decoy or two." Said Naruto, as the clones detonated.

Zabuza looked at Gato, then at the corpse of his apprentice, then at Kakashi.

"Hatake. It seems we're no longer enemies. Mind giving me a kunai?" Kakashi eyed Zabuza wearily, but both of them knew that Zabuza could never beat the Konoha Jonin in this state. As gripped the kunai handle with his teeth, a flare of purple, miasmic energy spread around him, forming a truly demonic sight.

"Gato… I wonder what it will be like when we end up in Hell together. I'm a demon, so I should fit right in, but I wonder how you'll adapt." Said Zabuza icily, as Gato ran to the back of his mercenary unit. As Zabuza charged, Naruto made to follow, but Kakashi held him back.

"Wait, Naruto. You're about to watch something you will never forget." Said Kakashi, and he was right. Zabuza made a swath of carnage through Gato's unit, before reaching the man himself, jabbing the kunai into the greedy man's heart.

His goal now accomplished, Zabuza used his teeth to grab a katana from one of the mercenaries' corpses, and slashed through more and more of them, but taking more wounds too, from spears, swords, and kunai knives.

As the remaining mercenaries fled, Naruto watched as Zabuza came towards his team, arms limp, covered in the weapons his final opponents had stabbed him with.

"You, kid." Said Zabuza, to Naruto.

"Bring me to the kid." Naruto was still suspicious, but at Kakashi's nod, helped the Kiri swordsman reach his partner in crime. It was only then that Naruto noticed the snow coming from above, and the tears in Zabuza's eyes.

"This really is the end… I imagine I won't be seeing Haku again. He'll go on up to the pure lands, and I'll remain below…" Said Zabuza, his eyesight fading. "But… Who knows? Maybe we'll see each other in the next life, in the next turn of the cycle of reincarnation." Zabuza's eyes flickered up to the sky before resting once more on his comrade. "Are you crying, Haku?"

With that, the man who slaughtered his own class, rebelled against his own village, and saved a young Hyoton orphan, breathed his last. As Naruto witnessed, standing in the peaceful frozen storm, a question of his own became apparent – if he ever laid down his life for Tenshi, or Iruka, or his team, would anyone talk about him like that? Would anyone mourn him and care for him, as Zabuza did for Haku?

As Naruto walked back across the Great Naruto Bridge, he didn't know the answer to that question, but he did know that he hoped someone would, one day.

 **This mission is a doozy to write, especially given the fact that it's so formative, and there are so many parallels to be made between Zabuza/Haku and Konan/Naruto, as master and apprentice. I wanted to put emphasis on Naruto's emotions rather than the fighting, and I feel that this mission overall is over-saturated in terms of representation on this site, but that might just be me.**

 **This leads me to my next question for you to ponder, if you so desire: What are the battles you are looking forward to Naruto (or other major characters) facing? I will promise that throughout the course of this fic, Konan will have at least one major battle, Naruto will have a few, and other major characters introduced and not yet introduced will have their moments to shine.**

 **Enjoy your wonderful summer day (or winter, for those of you in the southern hemisphere).**

 **~KoS**


	6. Chapter 6: Chunin Exams: Begin!

**Before you all continue reading, I would appreciate it if you read this upper part first. Firstly, I would like to thank RedFoxx and ShulkXMelia23 for pointing out that the previous chapter felt rushed and weak as hell. It has been revamped and posted. Something that I feel I need to point out is that what I am writing is about an arc and a half further than what is being posted, and I believe that Ch. 5 was written between the publishing of Ch. 1 and 2. It wasn't rushed writing, it was lazy and incompetent writing on my part.**

 **Secondly, if you, reader, new or old, have criticism or feedback for me, tell me for God's sake. The comments given to me by Red and Shulk gave me the push necessary to fix the most pressing issues in Ch. 5. As of this chapter's release, 5 has been updated for the past hour or two, maybe longer, depending on when I finish this A/N.**

 **Now, I will reply to the reviews, not including the parts that talked about the quality of Ch. 5, considering the previous paragraphs are basically an extended reply and apology towards that.**

 **RedFoxx: About the Sasuke Retrieval Arc and Naruto vs. Nagato: I expect to follow the general trajectory of canon. Despite the various gripes that can be made with Kishimoto, I honestly feel that he is 10/10 as a storyteller in the grand scope of things. Naruto vs. Pein and Naruto vs. Sasuke are two of my favorite fights, and I hope to do them justice.**

 **ShulkXMelia23: Oh boy. I love your reviews, but they're generally tough to unpack due to their length, so I'll do my best to touch on every point. Sasuke vs. Rock Lee: I definitely understand the significance of the fight, but I won't be showing it from Sasuke or Lee's perspective, rather from Naruto's, albeit in a slightly detached manner. Sasuke vs. Orochimaru: I'll be honest, my original draft of that fight is similar in quality and length to Team 7 vs Zabuza in OG Ch 5. It won't be like that when it is released. You have a keen eye on where Naruto and Tenten's relations could go. Keep that. Also, please don't feel guilty about reviewing: I love reading your feedback and thoughts, even if they do take a hot minute to unpack, and another hot minute for readers to read my response. They have a lot of value.**

 **.puentes: Hola, gracias por la crítica. Puedo decir que la reacción de Naruto al darse cuenta para quién trabaja Konan es un punto de trama importante y definido para Pre-Shippuden. Cuando lleguemos a eso, espero que mis escritos sean satisfactorios. Desgraciadamente, no puedo hablar español, así que esto está siendo traducido por mi buen amigo Google. Espero que Google no arruine esta traducción.**

 **With that, dear readers, please take this chapter as both a gift in thanks for your support, and a way to advertise the fact that Ch. 5 is no longer a trash-tier piece of writing. Enjoy!**

Naruto talked about his mission in his next communication with his secret sensei, but never received a response. Soon, days of no response became weeks, weeks became months, and before long, Kakashi had nominated his team for the Chunin exams.

As Naruto walked down the street, he came across the Sandaime's grandson, being held by a man in a black costume of some kind, with purple face paint.

As Naruto approached the scene, he realized that the 'man' was only a year or so older than him, with a bandaged package on his back. Behind him was a young woman wearing foreign-looking clothing, with a large fan strapped to her back.

"Excuse me," Said Naruto, a fake smile plastered to his face, "what do you think you're doing with the Sandaime's grandson?" While Naruto knew that Konohamaru didn't like being defined by his relation to the old man, and Konohamaru knew Naruto didn't see him that way, his status as 'honorable grandson' had some uses from time to time.

"You idiot, Kankuro! Release him now!" Kankuro dropped Konohamaru, who with his friends huddled behind Naruto, using the blonde for protection.

"Thank you." Said Naruto genuinely. "May I assume you are here for the Chunin exams?" The girl nodded.

"Yeah, we're genin of Sunagakure. What's your name?" Naruto smiled.

"Please call me Naruto. I should end up seeing you during the exams, miss…?"

"Temari, and this is Kankuro." She said, gesturing towards the cat man.

"A pleasure. I must admit, I thought all teams were three-man, even outside Konoha. I've never heard of a two-man team before…"

"That's because there isn't one." Said a gravelly voice above and behind Naruto. Looking around, he saw a red-haired boy with a large gourd on his back, green eyes with shadows surrounding them, with the kanji for love below his hairline. The boy jumped down and looked at his teammates.

"Kankuro, Temari, don't mess around, or I'll kill you." The boy's teammates shuddered, and the shaking of the children grew more pronounced.

"Maa maa, shinobi-san." Said Naruto in a placating manner, "Your teammates have done nothing wrong. We were just having a nice little pre-exam chat." The boy looked at Naruto.

"I'll make sure you squeal during the exam, and prove my existence." Naruto frowned. "I'd rather you didn't, shinobi-san. What's your name?"

"I am Sabaku no Gaara. What is yours, smiley?" Naruto's smile grew even more, just to infuriate the redhead a little more.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you, Gaara. Now, I'd love to stay and talk some more, but I have to walk these three," Naruto gestured to the kids still huddled behind him, "to the ramen stand. I promised I'd spend a meal with them. Let's do our best in the exams." With that, Naruto walked off with the Konohamaru Corps in tow.

"But Naruto-niisan, you didn't promise us ramen…" Said Moegi.

"You're right, but I figured I should have a word with you three about running into foreign shinobi like that. I might not be around next time." Said Naruto.

"Yeah yeah, I get that." Said Konohamaru, looking much less scared than before. "That cat man is such a weirdo, isn't he? Why would anyone want to hang around a hentai like that?" Naruto chuckled.

"You seem a lot more confident now that he isn't holding you by your shirt, eh Kono?" Naruto, Moegi, and Udon laughed as Konohamaru blushed and looked down. Naruto patted his disciple on the shoulder.

"Don't worry too much, Kono. You guys will be a genin like me in only a few years, and I'm sure whoever your sensei is will help you become wonderful shinobi." Naruto smiled good-naturedly at his young followers. He came into contact with them through Konohamaru, who gravitated towards the blonde who recognized him for himself, rather than the shadow of the Sandaime that loomed over him.

"What if you became our sensei, Naruto-nii?" Asked Udon. Naruto laughed once more as he sat down with the kids.

"For that to happen, I'd have to become a jonin in what, three years or thereabouts? And even then, Jiji would probably put you with someone more tried and true, maybe even that Ebisu fellow." Said Naruto, winking at Konohamaru, whose expression showed the utmost horror at the prospect of someone who only referred to him by his honorary title.

"Please do it, boss. I don't want that guy as my sensei." Said Konohamaru, with a deflated manner. Naruto shrugged and the kids dug in, all the while, Naruto wondered about who else had been watching his encounter with the Suna-nin. He had felt multiple stares on him, but hadn't had a real opportunity to look around for his observers without alerting them. Little did he know, seven others had watched him: three who were assigned to kill his teammate, three who were assigned to monitor him, and one who watched the situation with surprise at seeing an old friend.

Not too long after, Naruto found himself in the large hall with his team, the rookie nine, and what looked like many other teams, a significant number of which were staring at him and his classmates with harsh stares. Smiling and giving a soft wave, Naruto recounted the events that had led him there.

Firstly, Naruto had purchased a new set of clothes that Kakashi-sensei said was much more suitable for a shinobi career. Naruto had replaced his all-orange puffy jumpsuit with fairly simple clothing – a dark blue shirt with the kanji Ten on it in white, dark blue shinobi pants, and nondescript black hoodie with the Konoha leaf in orange. The 'Ten' kanji had a double meaning – it was not only part of Tenshi, but part of his oldest friend's name.

Next, entering the exam building, and dispelling the genjutsu. The entire team had dispelled the genjutsu successfully, and Naruto was more than willing to walk past, but it seemed that Sasuke had another idea: revealing the plot, creating more competition and enabling a fight with a Konoha genin he had never seen before, before the two of them were interrupted by a young man with green spandex, a bowl cut, large, wide eyes, and two of the most terrifying eyebrows the young blonde had ever seen.

As Sasuke was feeling fired up and ready to fight, he was more than ready to fight the hot-blooded genin, Naruto's attention was drawn to his teammate, who had scolded this Rock Lee for showing off. As Naruto saw the brown-haired girl with hair in panda buns, Naruto's heart stopped.

You see, Naruto had wondered how his oldest friend was doing, and he had reached a conclusion internally: she was likely better off, and happier off, without him in her life.

A lifetime of seeing people disgusted with him, violent towards him, and with no familial connections, Naruto could only rely on the positive feedback he gained from Iruka-sensei, who was only a young adult, the Ichiraku family, to whom he was also their best customer, the Sandaime, who had ordered the gag law that kept Naruto in the dark about his status for so many years, and an absentee sensei who wasn't even responding to him anymore.

In short, Naruto's self-esteem was abysmal for a boy of his age, and without any real outlets to share his worries for fear of sounding childish, he bottled his emotions up and came to conclusions in the graces of his own mind.

Naruto was also disgusted with himself in terms of his friendship with Tenten, because he had forgotten to seek her out for some time – in between having his own apartment and both learning and re-learning how to live life now that he was on his own in a new district, training with the scrolls sent to him by Tenshi-sensei, struggling in the academy, fighting for Iruka-sensei's acceptance, and the turbulent times from his unorthodox graduation to now, thinking about Tenten came about with little action to follow it up.

To Naruto, Tenten's friendship had gone from being like a well-maintained plant to something he was too afraid to discover again, for fear of seeing his own failure manifested.

Thus, Naruto tried to get Sasuke to move on, but the more the blonde quietly asked, the more adamant Sasuke became. Luckily for Naruto, in between his new outfit and lowered voice, he assumed that there was no way Tenten would know that he was her old friend who forgot about her.

The keyword is assumed, for truly, Tenten knew Naruto was there, and felt similar trepidations to seeking out her old friend.

For the other clanless orphan of what would one day be known as the Konoha 12, Uzumaki Naruto represented something fleeting, like a firefly, or perhaps a handful of rainwater – hard to hold on to.

Tenten's regrets were on a similar line to Naruto's – aside from a few questions in the days after he was gone, Tenten had never sought out the Uzumaki in great detail.

She had seen him once or twice – running from the academy, cackling like a monster, with Iruka-sensei behind him. Once, on the day of the Kyuubi festival, she had seen him running from a mob.

While Tenten was not a coward, especially since the start of her shinobi training, she knew better than to run in the middle of a mob, especially a mob that was leaving from the village, from what Tenten could see.

When Tenten saw Naruto stumble through the gates once more, covered in blood but uninjured, Tenten didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified that the only evidence a mob had been chasing him was from the red fluid covering his small body.

As a genin, she had been told that 'Academy Student Uzumaki Naruto has stolen the Forbidden Scroll!', and dispatched to check a civilian section of town with her team, but eventually everything returned to normal, with the overall message being 'Crisis Averted.'

It was a rather odd thing – two orphans, old friends, painfully aware of each other's presence, who fled from the possibility of reunion, even when they were mere feet away from each other, trying to pretend not to see the other.

The situation was even odder, because each held the other in the core of their hearts, as a childhood friend in a lonely village.

Regardless, Naruto and Sakura followed Sasuke and Rock Lee, the former grumbling about wasting time, with Tenten taking the rear of this odd bunch, staring at the back of her friend's hoodie, where his head lay just out of sight.

What was a bizarre matchup for Naruto to watch became suddenly interesting as this Rock Lee kicked Sasuke around like an old punching bag. As Lee seemed to be preparing what looked like a devastating aerial attack, a turtle smashed into the boy.

As Naruto kept his origami angel with him at all times, and didn't know how much of his everyday life was conveyed to his sensei, Naruto bit his tongue and refused to ask if the turtle was the boy's sensei. The fact that Tenten could hear him say such an idiotic statement was definitely not the reason he kept silent. Totally. Surely.

As Tenten talked to the turtle, Naruto risked a glance at her. Tenten had gone from the scrappy orphan in pigtails to a strong, happy-looking young woman. To his amusement, Naruto saw weariness mixed in with amusement as the turtle scolded Lee.

This emotion was followed by the appearance of the boy's sensei, a near carbon copy of him with even more defined eyebrows, and Tenten rolled her eyes and closed them as the two spandex… things? hugged, creating a genjutsu-like effect.

Naruto's cheeks were slightly pinker than they were before, but averted his eyes from his admittedly quite pretty old friend, back to the contents of whatever was going on below. It seemed that this Gai fellow was talking to Sakura about his rivalry with Kakashi, while the girl dodged the projectile hearts that this Lee fellow kissed at her.

Sasuke brooded in the corner, but Naruto suspected it wasn't because he was jealous of the kisses being given to his teammate. He was definitely sour about his loss, perhaps he was also jealous that someone had repulsed Sakura on their first meeting, after his years trying to get out of her hair?

That had been the occasion before the exam, but Naruto stopped delving back in his memory – as he listened to the conversations between his classmates and an older genin named Kabuto, Naruto looked around the exam – most of the shinobi were glaring at him and his classmates (Naruto suspected that Ino and Sakura's fighting in combination with Kiba's noisiness wasn't helping much), but a few were giving more neutral expressions.

Thus, Naruto made a game observing the genin who _didn't_ seem like assholes at this stage in the game. The first contender was a red-haired Kusa-nin with glasses, who seemed more inquisitive than anything else.

Next was a team from Ame – while they were technically glaring at him, Naruto couldn't take their glares seriously, considering they all looked like they came into the exam after snorkeling in their bland, strange pajama onesies.

Another team from Ame caught his eye, a team of three kunoichi, a rarity in this exam room. One had a lazy, happy expression on her face and waved when Naruto saw her. Another was wearing a mask, and narrowed her eyes at the blonde looking at her team, and the third, a girl with purple hair in an onion-style bun gave Naruto a curt nod.

While Naruto smiled and nodded back to the first teammate, his focus remained on the third for a moment or two longer – she reminded him of his sensei. Not Iruka, his surrogate brother, or Kakashi, the lazy man whose mannerisms Naruto picked up sparingly, but Tenshi.

The girl's neutral expression, cold, guarded demeanor, and inquisitive eyes _screamed_ Tenshi, at least to Naruto. While Naruto still felt the prickle of sadness (and worry) when he thought about his sensei, and how long it had been since her last message, he felt a sense of contentment at seeing someone so similar to her.

Mentally vowing to keep an eye on her in the tournament, Naruto turned towards his classmates once more, just in time to see Kabuto on the ground, a genin with a musical sound note headband standing above him. The silver-haired man was clutching his eardrums in an expression of pain.

In the next moment, a man named Morino was telling them to cut it out and enter for their first exam, and some minutes later, Naruto was looking down at his own paper in frustration. While Naruto didn't have the book smarts of Sakura, or the raw genius of Shikamaru, he wasn't completely stupid, especially with Tenshi's assistance.

Thus, Naruto realized that he should in no way, shape, or form, understand these questions. Well, a part of Naruto's mind _did_ recall that Kakashi was exceptionally lazy. Would this qualify as some method to make his team study, getting into the chunin exams and flunking the first test?

That being said, Naruto also realized that Sasuke likely wouldn't get far either. Thus, Naruto answered the questions he could, and started theorizing more seals and techniques, using basic techniques. After all – if Naruto's grade alone didn't fail the team, Naruto's and Sasuke's together would likely sink anything Sakura could put together.

Not long after, Ibiki announced an all-or-nothing question ten. Naruto, seeing his chance, realized that Ibiki's threat to hold back genin permanently was stupid beyond belief – were there really any genin dumb enough to fall for that threat?

As Naruto would learn, there were many genin stupid enough. As Naruto watched, he saw Sakura wavering, starting to lift her hand. Sasuke looked at her angrily, and Naruto was feeling quite peeved as well.

"What an interesting ploy, Ibiki-san." Said Naruto, startling Sakura into lowering her hand.

"What do you mean, brat?" Ibiki had put the dots together, and was preparing to call out the Jinchuriki's team, but wondered if Naruto had as much intelligence as he was projecting.

"I'm surprised you could scare so many of them. You really thought that threatening to hold them back would work?" Naruto asked, incredulously. "I bet the Hokage cares much more about who can _complete_ a mission rather than which rank it should be assigned to. If the Hokage knew that genin could complete a mission better than chunin or jonin, why even _have_ a rank system?"

The silence that followed Naruto's argument lasted for several minutes, before Ibiki spoke again.

"Boy, take your hood off. Let me see your face." Naruto hesitated for a second, thinking about how if Tenten didn't see him before, she definitely would now, before following the older man's instructions. Ibiki saw the spiky blonde hair and blue eyes, serious and piercing.

Ibiki's memory was quite good, and he realized he had seen that stare before – from a famous Jonin on the Iwagakure front in the last war. A jonin who would become Hokage, and die on the same day that kid was born, and became the new host.

It was as if the clouds unraveled before Ibiki's eyes, and he realized just _who_ he was looking at. Nodding to himself, Ibiki chuckled.

"Good job, kid. Good job. Everyone! You all pass." He pointed at Naruto. "Thank this brat for the trouble." Naruto laughed, blushing a little at the attention he received. Things seemed normal for another second or two before a woman wearing rather revealing clothing jumped in _through the_ _goddamn window_ and announced their second task would be in the so-called Forest of Death.

As Team 7 turned in their waivers, a different conversation was happening in the Jonin lounge, where all the sensei were watching their teams. As the teachers of the failed teams stood out, a few Konoha jonin talked about the exam, and in particular the first section's final moments.

"Quite the kid you've got there, Kakashi." Said Gai, looking (to the relief of his colleagues) less youthful. Now, Gai was both a genius and a buffoon. While his metaphors about youth left many shinobi wondering what had happened to the lad, and the bowl-haired sensei was known for the extensive damage he caused to training grounds, his metaphors and philosophy were quite visible to those who looked objectively.

Putting it bluntly, Gai's philosophy was one of embracing the optimism and joyful outlook of one's younger days. While Gai lost his father and some of his friends on the battlefield, that was also where the young Maito lad became a man, and where he learned more about life and death than any amount of time in the village.

In a career path where so many of his colleagues ended up scarred mentally and physically, Gai latched onto his optimism like a lifeline, knowing that a shinobi's end could occur at any moment, and living life to anything other than its fullest was a waste.

This strange wisdom was something that his students understood quite well, especially the kunoichi of the group. While Lee viewed his sensei as a godlike figure, and Neji thought his new teacher was a buffoon, Tenten learned early on that there was more to the man than his ramblings.

Thus, she leaned on him, perhaps not as much as the blacksmith who adopted her, but leaned on him nonetheless. She told him about her oldest friend, and asked if she was a bad person, and a bad friend.

Unfortunately, most teenagers see things in an all-or-nothing type of mindset, and so when Gai told her that she was not a bad friend, nor was she in the wrong, she assumed that he meant Naruto was. As such, Gai was intrigued to see more of the boy who gave one of his students such anxiety.

"Naruto definitely has his moments." Replied Kakashi, brightly.

As the silver-haired Jonin was sucked into a conversation with his three comrades from his younger days, another sensei was watching the screen in interest.

While a long cloak and dyed black hair obscured her identity, the woman's amber eyes watched her first student, before nodding in approval, happy she had told her team to keep an eye on the boy who reminded her so much of Yahiko.

 **I'm hoping that this chapter can wash down the trash that I posted last time, and I look forward to receiving more feedback and questions. Here is my next question for you: one team has been sent to observe Naruto, as seen in the first half of this chapter. Who do you think it is, and why?**

 **Have a good one,**

 **~KoS**


	7. Chapter 7: The Forest of Death

**Good morning. I have another chapter for you to read this weekend. I have some replies to respond to, but I want to clarify why I will not be making any changes to Ch. 6, whereas I made large changes to Ch. 5. Ch. 5's weakness was lazy writing, plain and simple.**

 **The nuances of Tenten and Naruto's relationship in Chapter 6 is more intentional, and the awkwardness between them is something I associate with their age range - they are effectively middle school age (~12-14), depending on whom you ask they might be 13/14 or 12/13, but the point remains.** **Naruto also seems to have some level of infatuation to Tenten, but while this could be attraction, it could also be embarrassment tied in with guilt. As of right now, it's yours to interpret, and whichever one you consider more likely likely won't screw up this chapter in the grand scheme of things.**

 **Of course, I think what I find the most compelling about this relationship aspect is the fact that we now have multiple schools of thought for how the story and relationships should be. Both are valid and interesting points of view, so it really depends which is more compelling on an individual level. I look forward to seeing and hearing about more possibilities too.**

 **ShulkXMelia23: Don't worry friend, Konan is not thrown away. I realized when I uploaded that I forgot to add the last two pieces of this chapter. Again, everything is on one document, so I sometimes have to eyeball how much should be uploaded. If you check the very bottom of Ch. 6, you will find a little gem that points towards what's going on with Konan. Why did Konan not respond? It's a mystery, caused by the fact that we see things from Naruto's point of view, and he has incomplete information. I don't want to spoil too much of what I plan Naruto's abilities to be, but here is what I will say: don't lose hope. It took Naruto until after the chunin exams to learn one of the two jutsu he almost exclusively uses in combat, so it may take a while for Naruto's skillset to develop. It's always a pleasure to read your feedback.**

 **RedFoxx: I replied to the first part of your comment above, and as such, I will reply more to the rest of it. As for the future and relations coming together, it is fun to write :). I'm glad you like the salvaging of Ch. 5. After seeing some of the criticism for it written by yourself and Shulk, I went through and tried to fix other chapters too. Safe to say, at least one of this chapter's combat scenes has been completely fleshed out.**

 **.puentes: Entonces, ¿traduces toda la historia en Google o en algún otro sitio web? Si es así, debe ser extremadamente tedioso, así que gracias por pasar el tiempo solo para leer una pequeña historia de KingsofSarutobi. Me alegro de que hayas notado algunos de los detalles menores de los personajes, y quería mostrar dónde está el enfoque de Naruto para este capítulo. Gracias por el apoyo, y espero que disfrutes este capítulo.**

 **As for the answer to my question from Ch. 6, it will be answered if you have not already placed your bets.**

Several hours into the forest, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura found themselves face to face with a strange sight – a lone Kusagakure genin standing on one of the great trees' branches, with the face of a snake-man beneath her own.

You see, Team 7 had been blown by a massive gust of wind, and found the Kusa genin fast approaching. As the individual jumped down, Team Seven was encountered by an abominably powerful sakki – greater than Zabuza by an insane margin. Of course, most genin had never experienced Jonin-level Sakki, and Zabuza himself was above the average of most Jonin. Thus, Team 7 had something that Orochimaru didn't expect – experience.

Naruto entered motion, forming multiple Kage bunshin, which Orochimaru slashed through easily, allowing his legendary sword to take its first casualties in this battle. Seemingly snapping out of his reverie, Sasuke jumped alongside Naruto, and the two entered into taijutsu combat with the strange 'genin's flexible body.

Team Seven's two strongest members attacked in tandem – Naruto from the right, using kunai, bombs, and taijutsu, while Sasuke attacked from the left, using Shuriken, Kunai, and the Uchiha style taijutsu.

They lost. Naruto was kicked in the stomach and flew nearly fifteen feet back, Sakura was scared and couldn't move, and Sasuke was being toyed with once he was isolated, being told over and over again that he was weak, and would remain weaker than his brother, no matter what he did in Konoha.

Thus, Orochimaru walked over to Sasuke slowly but surely, and said a few choice words, after taking Team 7's Heaven scroll, and consuming it.

"It's really a shame, little Uchiha." Sasuke looked angrily at Orochimaru.

"What shame?" Orochimaru laughed.

"You know, your brother was really something else at his age. I can only imagine how ashamed Itachi is of how weak his kid brother is. What have you been doing, playing like a child while strong Fugaku and gentle Mikoto rot in the ground?" The imagery of his parents like that drew Sasuke into a frenzy, and he charged again, only to be kicked back.

"What's it to you, you scumbag?" Sasuke was practically screaming at this point, all caution thrown to the wind.

"I can give you something, if you're willing to make a small sacrifice." Sasuke flared his nostrils.

"What would I want from you?" Orochimaru licked his lips.

"The power to kill Itachi Uchiha." Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Why should I trust you?" But Orochimaru knew that Sasuke was mentally strong, but his mental state could be degraded, if he was given a little gift…

"Because I, Orochimaru, will give you a taste of that power, free of charge." With that, Orochimaru extended his neck and gave Sasuke the Ten no Juin – the Curse Seal of Heaven.

As Naruto saw this and heard Sasuke's scream of agony, he snapped, unlocking something he hadn't accessed just yet – the Kyuubi chakra.

The crimson bubbling chakra enveloped Naruto as his eyes, once blue, burned a burning scarlet color. He charged at Orochimaru, slashing back and forth. Orochimaru, for his part, simply dodged and observed – he had never seen the Kyuubi's previous Jinchuriki, because the knowledge of their identity was restricted.

As Orochimaru dodged another strike, and replied with a punch, he noted the burning quality of the chakra, and how the boy himself was a mixture of his own will with the beast within's, a strange hybrid if ever there was one. Of course, if the fight continued on, it could grow too large in scale. Orochimaru already had marked his newest vessel, no need to toy with his food for too long…

Thus, Orochimaru slammed the Five Elements Seal into Naruto, and watched the boy crumple. Turning around, Orochimaru saw Sakura standing there, frozen in fear. He laughed, and jumped off. Perhaps this event would make her stronger, who could guess the results of an experiment not worth viewing?

Luckily, Sakura was still in good shape by the time she realized she was alone, and gathered her two teammates. Pushing herself and her knowledge to the limits, she brought them both into a space beneath a tree, hiding the Uchiha and Uzumaki on makeshift beds made from their jackets and the root systems.

Sighing, Sakura resigned herself to keeping watch despite being exhausted physically and mentally. Sitting back after setting her traps, she was surprised to find the Otogakure squad approaching her – the two normal-looking ones in front, and the mummy-like boy in the back.

Rather quickly, Sakura stood up, took a stance, and brought her kunai into a defensive position. Then, Dosu walked forward, eyeing the ground.

"Grass like this doesn't grow here, you know that, right?" He asked, throwing aside the trap easily. He then blew through the secondary trap she had sent – an entire tree trunk.

"What do you want, oto-nin? Are you with that Orochimaru guy?" While the three recognized the name, they kept their faces controlled for the most part.

"We want to kill your teammate. Mind giving us the Uchiha, pinky?" Asked Zaku. Sakura refused, watching as the three prepared to dash towards her.

Of course, things got derailed when Rock Lee showed up, and the real melee began. Unfortunately for them, that melee would last all of half a second, as a series of senbon showered over the battlefield, landing into Dosu and Kin, knocking them out. Zaku managed to deflect as many as he could with his pressurized sound jutsu, but nothing could change the severity of the onslaught.

As Zaku tried to deflect as many as he could, he didn't see the massive panda dropping on him from above. With a groan, he joined his teammates in the land of the unconscious.

Lee and Sakura looked up to see a team of Ame kunoichi.

"Ooh, what happened here? See that, Ajisai?" The purple-haired girl looked at the clearing, where Lee and Sakura were protecting the girl's other teammates.

"Ah. It seems Uzumaki-san is… indisposed." Internally, Ajisai was disappointed – not only in herself for failing to protect Tenshi-sama's first student, but at the state of him and his team.

"What do you want with Naruto?" Asked Sakura.

"I wasn't talking about the blondie, Ajisai. I meant the sight of those two." She said, pointing at Lee and Sakura. "If that walking bag of pink twigs could find a boyfriend, I could too!" Said Fuyo.

"What would you like us to do, Ajisai-san?" Asked Suiren, the more serious of the purple-haired girl's teammates.

"Take this." She said, tossing an earth scroll to Sakura, who caught it.

"Uh… Thanks, I suppose? What do you want with Naruto?" Asked Sakura once again. None of the Ame kunoichi responded before a bun-haired kunoichi jumped into the clearing, and pounding the top of her teammate's head.

"Lee no Baka! Running off like that all on your own!" Tenten looked towards the wounded members of Team 7, recognizing Sakura and seeing the blonde locks of Naruto, the boy himself unconscious.

Before Tenten could truly react, she felt senbon piercing a pressure point on her neck, as did Lee, and Suiren jumped down, before stealing the kunoichi's Heaven scroll.

"What do you want us to do with it, Ajisai-san? It's a heaven scroll." She pointed towards Naruto's group.

"Give it to them." She said, pointing at Sakura and the boys. Suiren did so, before bowing ever so slightly to Sakura.

"You should be grateful, Konoha genin." Said Ajisai, looking down at Tenten and Lee, who were paralyzed, and Sakura, who was weak from exhaustion. "The smaller villages aren't as cruel as you are, and that blonde is the important one of you all."

In reality, between Pein and Hanzo, they were probably crueler. This fact didn't need to be stated, however obvious it might seem to the Ame-nin. A second later, the three had shunshin'd away, into a different section of the forest.

With that, Sakura looked at Lee and Tenten, before removing their senbon.

"You helped me a lot, Lee-san. You deserve both of these, honestly." Said Sakura, feeling guilty at how useless she had been when Lee and his teammate had been paralyzed.

"No worries, Sakura-san. Keep your scrolls, and we'll meet you up in the tower, I promise!" Said Lee, flashing her a smile. Before Sakura could protest, another figure came out of the trees.

"Lee, Tenten. I managed to get a pair of scrolls. Let's go." With that, Lee and Tenten followed their Byakugan-using teammate away, and Sakura returned to tending to Sasuke and Naruto, before the former woke up.

"Sakura! What happened?" The Haruno genin explained what she had seen and experienced since her teammates had been unconscious, and before the conversation was over, Naruto was awake too, and listening.

"You know, she said she gave us the scrolls because of you, Naruto. Who is she?" Naruto blinked, not having heard the beginning of the conversation.

"Who?" Said Naruto, feeling a mixture of anxiety and excitement about the fact that there could really only be one 'she' who would know him well enough, and have the motives to-

"That Amegakure girl, the one with purple hair." Naruto's stomach sank. That girl whose presence was just like Tenshi's, from all those years ago.

"Oh… I don't know her." Said Naruto.

"Bullshit." Said Sasuke and Sakura simultaneously. Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head.

"I'm serious though. I guess I smiled at them earlier in the exam, but you said they pointed me out? What did they say, Sakura-chan?" Sakura gave a weak smile, relieved that her team seemed to be functional once more.

"They mentioned you by name, Naruto. They said that you were the only important one of the bunch." Said Sakura, before remembering how Tenten had frozen up after seeing Naruto.

"And also, what's up with that Tenten girl?" Naruto was glad his hood was on, as he laid on one of his cheeks to hide his blush at her name.

"What do you mean, Sakura-chan?" Asked Naruto.

"The instant she saw you, she froze up. I'm pretty sure it was you, Naruto. I don't think anyone could see Sasuke from that point in the clearing." Naruto shrugged.

"We used to know each other when we were young, maybe she noticed me?" Said Naruto, trying to downplay how _important_ that connection was. Sakura could tell that Naruto seemed to be avoiding the topic, but figured she could press him on it later – it wasn't like Naruto's connection to the kunoichi had hurt their team at all.

"Well anyway, let's get to the tower as quickly as possible. Are you feeling good to move, Sasuke-kun? Naruto?" The boys nodded, and the three of them started moving, before eventually reaching the tower.

When inside, they managed to solve the puzzle of the scrolls, and after going inside the rest area, were met with a few genin – the Suna team that Naruto had met before the exam, Tenten's team, the Ame squad, and Team 8.

"Well well, look what the cat dragged in." Said Kiba, looking at how horribly worn down Team 7 looked.

"Can it, dog breath." Said Naruto, before sitting down next to him. Akamaru barked in annoyance.

"Not you, Akamaru. Your human there is a real stinker though, you should make sure he cleans himself off." Said Naruto, stage-whispering to the dog. Akamaru turned towards Kiba before barking, seemingly in agreement with Naruto, if the Inuzuka dropping his face onto his dinner plate was any indication. Laughing, Naruto stood up once more, feeling his second wind kick in.

After walking Sakura to her room (she was dead tired), and Sasuke to Kakashi, Naruto walked around the tower, before running across the purple-haired girl. Figuring he could get a question or two answered, Naruto called out to her.

"Hi, can I talk to you for a minute?" Naruto put on his most charming smile as he walked up to the stone-faced Ame kunoichi, who had stopped and turned to him.

"What is it?" Naruto put his hands behind his head, smiling even more brightly for _extra_ charm.

"Thanks for the scrolls, you helped us out a lot back there." The Ame kunoichi nodded, before making to walk away. Naruto grabbed her shoulder, silently asking her to wait. She obliged.

"Why did you help us?" The girl's response was as emotionless as her expression.

"Because." Naruto faceplanted at such an uninformative response, and the girl cracked a small smile.

"Well, I guess I owe you one."

"You do not." Said Ajisai. While the boy might not know the circumstances behind her decision, it was truly Ajisai owing Naruto. After all, this boy's safety allowed Ajisai an opportunity to impress Tenshi-sama. Naruto's expression was confused, being privy to all of none of her thoughts.

"Ehh? Well, how about this. Can I owe you one if you do me a favor?" Ajisai blinked, but nodded slowly. Tenshi-sama wouldn't like her collecting debts from this boy, but perhaps she could repurpose them in some way.

"Ask away, Uzumaki-san."

"If we have any more team-based parts of this chunin exam, can you not target the team you paralyzed in the forest?" Ajisai was surprised.

"The Oto team? Why would you want us to spare them?" Naruto laughed and blushed, realizing his mistake.

"Sorry, I meant the other team. The one with Bushy Brows and the girl with bun-shaped hair." Ajisai tilted her head to the side.

"Why them in particular?" Naruto looked at the Ame-nin seriously.

"Because my oldest friend is on that team, and that Lee guy seems nice enough." Ajisai couldn't fathom Naruto's logic, but then again, he had never seen war. Of course, Ajisai had never been the target of real persecution in Amegakure, so how could she?

"Very well, Uzumaki-san." Naruto bowed low to her, as she turned around and started walking.

"Thank you again, Ame-kunoichi-san." Said Naruto seriously. Naruto couldn't identify the powerful emotion within him, but he knew it wasn't pleasant, nor was it unpleasant.

Neither realized that one of the subjects of Naruto's request was listening to the entire ordeal, wondering what her old friend was up to.

 **Second exam is wrapped up, and Naruto is once again acting without complete information. For those who are either fuzzy on the anime or didn't watch it altogether, Team Ajisai is a team that is active during the chunin exams in Suna where we see a variety of new characters and more information about already-existing characters. Ajisai is one of the latter, as she** ** _technically_** **appears in manga. I would consult the Naruto Wiki for info and images about their characters and their skillsets.**

 **Here is my question for you all to ponder: We've only been introduced to Ajisai and co. in the past two chapters - what do you think Ajisai's fate will be at the end of this story? Will she have the same result as in canon, or will things shake up?**

 **Have a good one,**

 **~KoS**


	8. Chapter 8: Preliminary Showdowns

**Good morning, friends. I have been a lazy manchild and haven't been updating this story as frequently as I should, so here is a chapter with some combat, some story development, and some Kakashi being a humorous dick. I'm going to try to spend less space responding to reviews and trying to explain away the issues present in my stories, but I will still respond to every single review, even if the reply is shorter than usual.**

 **ShulkXMelia23: I totally understand that your reviews come from a desire to see the best possible story, so no worries - please give more feedback. As for specific points brought up, I won't answer any questions related to future plot, so I'll instead reflect on the Tenten & Naruto situation. Their past is of real friendship, but I don't really see a defining memory outside of Naruto leaving the orphanage, which is shown from both sides in Ch. 1 and 2. I feel that if I wrote scenes from their childhood, it would come across as forced or mundane, and would likely end up being poor writing anyhow. I've tried to write scenes with a child's vocabulary, and each one of them falls flat on its face. While Naruto and Tenten's old friendship is a core part of the story, especially now, I want to draw more focus to where it leaves Naruto rather than the history itself. This explanation covers most of my reasoning, but if it's convenient, I could talk with you in more detail about the reasoning behind it in PMs or something of the like.**

 **I hope you all enjoy this chapter, as it is one of the ones that kicks the story into motion, and begins the foundations for one of the most important characters of this fic.**

Several days later, Naruto and the other genin who passed the second stage lined up before the Sandaime Hokage. Looking around, Naruto was surprised to see only familiar faces from this stage onwards. Namely because most of them were from Konoha: Team 7, Team 8, Team 10, Kabuto's team, and Team Gai. Additionally, the other teams who passed were ones Naruto was familiar with – Gaara's team from Suna, the Oto squad who had given him so much trouble, and the Ame team who had an interest in him.

Of course, Naruto's attention was taken by the Sandaime Hokage's pre-match speech.

"Good morning, genin. I must congratulate you on navigating through the Forest of Death, and obtaining your missing scroll. That being said, I must tell you that from this point on, the Chunin exams are individual, not team-based." Naruto frowned, and Ajisai wondered if that nullified his debt to her or not.

"And, I must inform you, these exams are a substitute for war. In these times of peace, villages must compete for the attention of clients, for the funding from daimyo, and for the honor of your villages. Now, I will hand this knockout exam over to its proctor." Said Hiruzen, who then sat down.

"Now, let's get this started. I am your proctor, Hayate Gekko." Said a man who looked like he hadn't slept in a year, and was coughing between words. "Each of these fights will be one versus one, randomized. You will fight until one of you is either dead, or unable to fight. With that, let's get into our first matchups." And thus, all the genin watched as Kin Tsuchi and Shikamaru Nara were the first to go.

The matches progressed, and they were mostly interesting – Shikamaru outsmarting Kin, Shino bursting Zaku's arms open with beetles, Kankuro deceiving with his puppet, Sasuke blatantly copying Lee's moves against Yoroi Akado, Choji fighting Dosu, Sakura and Ino fighting…(?), but of the matches that will not be mentioned in this time, two were truly impactful – Gaara crushing Lee's arm and leg after the boy opened five gates, and Neji trying to kill his cousin and lady, Hinata Hyuuga.

As Naruto watched the broken body of the Hyuuga girl being brought off stage, Naruto wished he could fight Neji more than anyone else. But alas, such a thing was impossible, at least in the preliminary stage.

"Next: Suiren vs. Tenten!"

The two kunoichi took to the field – one planning to honor the deal her team made with Naruto, the other planning to avenge her pathetic defeat in the forest. Thus, Suiren's plan was to stretch the fight out long enough to make the audience think she wasn't throwing the match, while Tenten planned to unleash everything short of her arsenal.

The start of the fight was rather abrupt. One moment, Hayate was announcing the start of the fight and giving the girls permission to start. In the next, a flurry of kunai and shuriken flew towards the Ame-nin, who replied with Senbon. Thus, the ground between them became littered with the broken, bent, and otherwise deformed remains of hundreds of ranged shinobi weapons.

Following this, each kunoichi drew her weapon: Suiren drew up her umbrella, which served the purpose of shooting out more senbon, while Tenten drew out a Manriki-fundo – a length of chain with a weight on each end. Rapidly moving towards Suiren, she swung the chain, allowing one of the weights to smash through a piece of Suiren's umbrella's fabric.

Eyes widening, Suiren retracted the fabric on her umbrella, opting to use the shaft of the umbrella in a similar fashion to a cane. Of course, this was not ideal for Suiren, who was nowhere near as competent in close-quarters combat as Tenten, who used the chain to yank the Ame-nin's cane away, where it came to rest in Tenten's spare hand.

Next, Tenten dashed forward, wrapping the chain from the Manriki-fundo around her opponent's body, before pressing her broken umbrella to her neck.

"Surrender." Said Tenten, determined. Suiren nodded, and Hayate declared Tenten as the winner. As he applauded, Naruto wondered how much of Tenten's prowess he had seen – she was obviously quite skilled with the standard projectiles of the shinobi world, had some level of fuinjutsu skill because of her mechanisms of deploying those weapons alongside the mankiri-fundo, and was quite skilled in melee combat.

But then again, as Naruto remembered, her teammates were that Gai fellow, Lee the taijutsu monster, and a Hyuuga. Still, she was quite impressive. As Tenten walked Suiren up to the stands, she asked the other girl a question.

"So, I heard that your teammate promised Naruto to take things easy against us." Suiren was surprised, but nodded. If they had been heard, they had been heard, and there was nothing that could be done about that fact.

"Was that your best?" Suiren nodded. Despite her strength, Suiren was simply outclassed by Tenten. Taking the statement at face value but still frustrated with how strange her situation seemed to be, the bun-haired kunoichi sat down, wondering who would be next.

"Next: Ajisai versus Kabuto Yakushi!" The Ame kunoichi and Konoha genin walked down, expressions of calm and casual smiling on their faces respectively.

"I surrender." Said Kabuto as the match started. Ajisai didn't respond other than blink and nod, as she turned towards Hayate, who called the match in her favor.

"Next: Naruto Uzumaki versus Kiba Inuzuka!" Kiba and Akamaru jumped into the arena, while Naruto merely walked down at a decent pace, before nodding to the Inuzuka.

"Hajime!

With that, Kiba used his Man-Beast Clone to turn Akamaru into a clone of himself, and grabbed a smoke bomb to throw, but it seemed that both contestants had the same plan. Naruto created about fifty Kage Bunshin before casting the Maki Kemuri no Jutsu, no longer needing to use a tag. Of course, what Naruto could make during his days in between completing the second task and starting this knockout stage were the same tags he utilized in his fight against Kakashi – sensory tags.

These tags were fairly simple in concept – they utilized echolocation in addition to being linked to each other. The way that this hooked up to the individual depended on the formation and kanji used in the seal itself, but Naruto assigned the information to be shown through his vision. Thus, Naruto (and every clone with a tag) could see the outline of everything the echolocation found within the fog.

Kiba and Akamaru were surprised at the coordination coming from the dozens of clones Naruto sent in the arena – how were they able to navigate the smoke? Kiba and Akamaru had years of synergy and enhanced Inuzuka senses, what did Naruto's clones have?

Additionally, Naruto had a few more tricks up his sleeve – first, he was throwing more and more tags into the fog itself – before long, Kiba and Akamaru had a few burns as they leapt out of the smoke. Second, Naruto's taijutsu was no longer at its wholly incompetent state that it would have been without Tenshi, and he managed to pull off a good combo onto Kiba and Akamaru, which served to split them up. Suddenly, one Kiba was surrounded with a dozen or so clones, the other one was too.

The real Naruto led his cohort against one Kiba, who tried to prepare a Gatsuga to cut his way through the formation, but was unable to build up the momentum, and found himself with chakra suppressing tags all over his body, removing the Henge that had been cast on it.

Thus, three or four Naruto clones subdued Akamaru until they could knock him out, at which point one of Naruto's clones brought the dog to the other side of the arena, petting the sleeping puppy while he waited for his clone-brothers to finish the fight with Kiba.

The other side of the battle was firmly Kiba-favored. He managed to get his Gatsuga off, and cut through seven of Naruto's twelve clones fighting him. As Akamaru had only managed to take out one or two of his dozen (not including the real Naruto), Kiba found himself alone versus nearly twenty Narutos, some of which in standard Academy taijutsu formation, some of which were in the style given to Naruto through Konan.

Of course, Ajisai recognized the taijutsu style immediately – she had only seen Konan in hand-to-hand combat once or twice (Tenshi-sama preferred her aerial ranged combat), she had witnessed her inspiration kill a Hanzo-loyal man named Aoi with it. As of now, she hadn't asked Tenshi about the taijutsu style, not wanting to get ahead of herself, but she felt a bit of ire and jealousy towards the blonde.

As Ajisai watched the taijutsu fight that Naruto would eventually win, even if he had to lose a few clones to make it happen, she pondered what she thought of this boy. Firstly, she was a bit jealous.

Naruto had been indisposed during the forest, something which hadn't befallen her team in the slightest. Naruto had received instruction despite Tenshi-sama being in Amegakure. Naruto had been the subject of Tenshi-sama's attention quite a few times, whether because of their student-sensei relationship, or because of the mission. Naruto could talk to Tenshi-sama freely, and hold nothing back.

Of course, some parts were also wrapped in admiration – Naruto was clearly smart enough, and deserving of Tenshi's attention, and his loyalty to his friends (and willingness to indebt himself for the sake of others) was admirable. Given that she made it to the final stage, her team would likely stay with her in Konoha, which meant Tenshi-sama would likely stay too, as she was posing as the group's sensei.

As she watched Naruto be declared the winner, as he helped his adversary up with a kind smile and handed him his sleeping puppy, she wondered what type of a person this Naruto was.

"Finally: Fuyo vs Temari!"

The two kunoichi walked down – the proud Temari and the relaxed Fuyo.

"Yo." Said Fuyo, waving to Temari. Several seconds later, the match had started, and each unleashed their ranged attack – senbon versus wind. The wind pushed the senbon back, and unfortunately for Fuyo, this was the story for the entire match – Fuyo would send out waves upon waves of Senbon, but would be unable to crack Temari's wind, but Temari could rip through Fuyo easily. By the time her fan was fully shown and utilized at max strength, Fuyo was knocked out, splayed on the handle of the thing.

Thus, the remaining competitors walked down to the field, awaiting their numbers for the third round. As Naruto walked down with the rest, he observed his competition. From Konoha: Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, Tenten, and Shino. From Suna: Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. From Oto: Dosu. From Ame: Ajisai. All were formidable opponents, and all were worthy of some level of respect.

Each competitor drew a number, and before long, they would find their opponents. Due to the number of opponents, two groups of four and one group of three would form a pool. From each pool, one fighter would eventually be declared the 'winner', and fight in a final match against the other winners.

The first pool would be numbers one through four, the second would be five through eight, and the last, nine through eleven.

"Three." Said Neji calmly.

"One… troublesome." Said Shikamaru.

"Six." Said Sasuke proudly.

"Nine." Said Dosu, his voice like gravel.

"Eleven." Said Ajisai, curtly.

"Seven." Said Tenten, excitedly.

"Two." Said Temari, looking at the Nara as if he was a delectable treat. Or possibly a fowl, ready to be hunted.

"Five." Said Gaara, looking at the Uchiha hungrily.

"Four." Said Naruto, internally very happy that he could avenge Hinata's loss.

"Ten." Said Shino, looking at Dosu and Ajisai.

"Looks like I'm eight." Said Kankuro, eyeing Tenten. Internally, Naruto's eye twitched. He didn't like how Kankuro was looking at his old friend. While Naruto was in a state of confusion and anxiety towards Tenten and where their old friendship was, nothing changed about the fact that she was someone he considered to be a friend.

With that, the genin were led back to the main village, where they reunited with their teams, and started to head their separate ways. Kakashi met his team at the village gates, surprising Team 7, who didn't expect their lazy sensei to be among the first to greet them, with a smile on his face.

As Sasuke had been taken away by Kakashi earlier, it was only Naruto and Sakura who walked back, the former pensive and the latter disappointed.

"Maa maa, Sakura-chan, don't be sad." Said Kakashi, patting the Haruno on the head and ruffling her hair.

"But Kakashi-sensei, Naruto and Sasuke-kun did all the work, and I got knocked out during the last stage. I can't become a chunin this time." Said Sakura dejectedly.

"But think of it this way: there were only eight teams in the preliminary stages, despite there being fifty-one teams that managed to get in the first round. And you've only been a genin for a few months." Sakura still grumbled a little, but looked much happier at Kakashi's appealing to her logical side.

"Well, Naruto-kun, we need to talk about your training for the final round." Said Kakashi, eyes turned towards the hooded blonde. Naruto looked up at his sensei, waiting for the information.

"I'm going to get in contact with an old classmate of mine, someone who should be able to help you out a fair bit." Said Kakashi, and Naruto's attention was piqued.

"An old classmate? Is he particularly strong?" Kakashi laughed.

"Think of it this way, Naruto-kun: his teammates were Gai, an old member of the Yondaime's guard unit, and his sensei was Akimichi Choza-san, who was a pretty key part in the battle against the Kyuubi." Naruto was impressed – someone surrounded by such talent _surely_ had to be strong.

"Alright. Arigato gozaimasu, Kaka-sensei." Said Naruto, as Kakashi dismissed his squadmates. Sakura asked Kakashi if she could visit Sasuke, while Naruto wandered off. Before long, he felt a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

Turning, Naruto saw Ajisai, the purple-haired kunoichi from Ame. Naruto smiled to her.

"Thank you." Said the Uzumaki kindly. Ajisai blinked.

"Suiren didn't take it easy on your teammate – she earned her win fair and square." Naruto laughed.

"Fair enough, but I'd say the circumstances changed enough that it doesn't matter if you took it easy on Tenten or not. She passed." Naruto's look turned more pensive. "And I still do owe you."

Ajisai allowed a small smile to creep on her face. While she was still confused about what Tenshi-sama saw in this boy, even Ajisai had to appreciate the honesty and kind temperament in Naruto – something so many shinobi lacked, especially in war-torn realms like Ame no Kuni.

"May I cash in that favor, Uzumaki-san?" Naruto nodded.

"Of course, but please call me Naruto."

"May I talk with you again? I must admit… there are not people like you in Amegakure. You confuse me." Naruto laughed good-naturedly and put his hands behind his hood, giving a huge smile to Ajisai.

"Of course, of course. I gotta say though, right now might not be convenient. I'm overdue for a nap, a bit of training, and a round of Ichiraku Ramen. When do you want to talk?" Ajisai frowned.

"What is this Ichiraku place like?" Naruto smiled wistfully as he turned towards it.

"I have a lot of good memories there." Naruto's face lit up. "How about we talk over a bowl of ramen? Would tomorrow night be fine?" Ajisai pondered his offer before slowly nodding.

"That would work." She said, her mind racing. Tenshi-sama had pulled her aside after dismissing Fuyo and Suiren, asking what the matter was. Ajisai, the loyal kunoichi who wanted to make her inspiration proud, tried pretending she was fine. One piercing glance from Tenshi-sama told the Ame kunoichi she wouldn't be able to lie to her 'sensei', so she confessed her confusion about the mission, and about the target.

 _"Why don't you find out for yourself, Ajisai? You know a fair bit about Konoha, and you know how the Great Nations have wronged villages like ours, but you don't know Uzumaki very well, do you? Learn, and perhaps you'll figure it out."_

"Alrighty then, see you tomorrow, Ame-kunoichi-san." Ajisai was taken out of her memory by Naruto's voice as he walked off.

"My name is Ajisai." Said the Ame-nin.

"See you tomorrow, Ajisai-san." Said Naruto quietly, as he walked towards his apartment. While Naruto was definitely strong, and his stamina was perhaps the greatest of any genin in the tournament, he still felt physically and mentally pooped out, especially with that wonky seal that the grass genin put on him.

* * *

 **Now that this writing is complete, I have a question for you, readers: over the course of this story, we've seen Naruto change and develop from his exposure to Konan, but how do you think Konan will change from her exposure to Naruto? We've seen reviews that showcase possible changes in plot, especially in specific decisions, but what about changes to character?**

 **Let me know, and have a wonderful day and weekend.**

 **~KoS**


	9. Chapter 9: Jiraiya

**Good day, this chapter is a bit shorter, so expect the one following this sooner, likely on Friday. Before I get to answering reviews, I'd like to share something that made me happy today - I got to talk with the author of one of my favorite up-and-coming fics, 'ANBU's Mascot'. For those who haven't had the chance to read it, I highly recommend it - it's lighthearted, sidesplittingly funny, and mildly insane.**

 **As for my conversation with the author, we sent each other good vibes, some praise, and our desires to be with each other romantically. One of those is a lie, I'll leave determining that up to you all ;).**

 **ShulkXMelia23: Thanks for the feedback! I'll be sure to hit you up and we can talk about the finer points. For the record, I will be sending out my next chapter on the 27th, and then either the 30th or the 3rd, or perhaps both. Have a great vacation, and thanks for all the help & feedback. It means a lot.**

 **Kang(d0t)Aweu: Good question! That's realistically up for you to guess and determine- was she scouting out the jinchuriki, was she looking up military techniques for her rebellion, or was she in Konoha for the hell of it?**

 **Guest: Thanks! Keep up your guessing, friend. One of your guesses is correct, one of them, not so much.**

 **Anyhow, I hope this chapter is a good one! Let me know how it turned out.**

Later, as Naruto was eating a bowl of ramen while laughing at a joke of Iruka's, two men met in the Sandaime Hokage's office.

"Jiraiya, what did you think about the matches?" The Sandaime asked his last loyal student, who had managed to show up early enough to see most of the matches, including his godson's.

"There's a lot of things that make me feel uneasy, sensei." Said Jiraiya, thinking as he drank the small saucer of sake his sensei offered him.

"Anything in particular?" Sarutobi asked.

"Yeah. If I had to list them off," Said Jiraiya, holding up five fingers, "They'd be these things: Firstly, that Hyuuga kid trying to kill his cousin." Sarutobi nodded – he felt rather concerned about it himself. It spoke to a level of instability in the Hyuuga clan that even he was unfamiliar with. Even the Uchiha, in the peak of their isolation before the massacre, hadn't had that level of infighting.

"Next would be the Ichibi kid. While I know that the seals of other villages aren't my business, and that kid isn't one of ours, his behavior screams faulty sealing. I don't think Suna has had a _real_ jinchuriki in a long time, and that kid is a bomb waiting to go off." Said Jiraiya, undoubtedly thinking about his village's own bijuu attack not long ago.

"Thirdly would be the kids from Oto, at least the boys. Those types of body modifications aren't minor, and they seem more reminiscent of Orochimaru's more horrifying experiments." Sarutobi couldn't help but agree.

"But of course, that might be because of the second most uneasy thing: Orochimaru and the presence of a cursed seal on Sasuke Uchiha. He doesn't give those seals out very often, from what my sources can tell. He wants the Sharingan, sensei. I don't know how he plans to get the boy's eyes, but that seal is a part of it, somehow." The Sandaime was rather surprised at this point – what made Jiraiya more uneasy than this? He expected Sasuke and Orochimaru to be the most worrying of all.

"I'm surprised something makes you more uneasy than that, Jiraiya." Jiraiya grunted, before sipping a little more sake.

"Where did Minato's kid learn his fighting style, sensei?" Sarutobi was surprised.

"I'm not quite sure, if I'm being honest. My assumption is that he learned it from Kakashi." Jiraiya shook his head.

"Sensei, you'll have to forgive me for this, but you haven't been on the field in a very, very long time." Said Jiraiya, grimly. Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. Jiraiya would sometimes joke around with his old sensei, but it was rare that he would give an outright criticism during a serious discussion. For all his bluster, Jiraiya was a man who greatly respected his sensei, and was an ardent supporter of his Hi no Ishi.

"You're not wrong, Jiraiya. Is there something I don't know?" Sarutobi asked.

"A number of the parts of his style aren't actually from Konoha. That smoke jutsu he throws around is an Amegakure technique. His locating tags are actually quite similar to an old Uzushiogakure design. His taijutsu…" Jiraiya trailed off, collecting his thoughts as he looked out at the happy, peaceful village beneath him.

"His taijutsu?" Inquired Sarutobi.

"It's very, very similar to the style that one of the orphans I looked after formed. It's rougher than her style, and parts of it are different, but a lot of the core looks like it's the same." Jiraiya said, and Sarutobi didn't have to ask where this student was – the grave tone of Jiraiya's voice spoke clearly of his grief – not that Sarutobi was unfamiliar with the story of the orphans.

"So, two core parts of his fighting style from Amegakure, and another from Uzushiogakure." Said Sarutobi wearily. "You're right, Jiraiya. I haven't been on the field for a very long time. I'm glad you were able to recognize it." The Sandaime looked towards Naruto's apartment building, and Jiraiya followed his gaze.

"Your godson lives in that building, you know." Said the old man. Jiraiya nodded.

"I've left him a few gifts. Nothing major, nothing to compensate for being gone, but you know why I can't be in the kid's life." Sarutobi understood perfectly well – he didn't agree with most of his old student's reasoning, but he understood it clearly.

"May I offer you some advice, Jiraiya?" Asked Sarutobi. Jiraiya looked at his sensei and nodded.

"You should try to train him. From what I can tell, someone has placed a seal over Naruto's primary seal, inhibiting his chakra control. Also, Kakashi seems to be planning to set Naruto up with a trainer by the name of Ebisu." Jiraiya's face turned towards his sensei in shock.

"Not that kid from Choza's team?" Sarutobi nodded. Jiraiya's knowledge of Ebisu was fairly straightforward – the man thought of himself as an elite, didn't seek to improve himself, and publically had disdain for Jiraiya despite privately owning every single Icha-Icha copy.

"Alright, sensei. I'll take the kid out of Ebisu's hands soon enough. Who knows," Said Jiraiya, a lecherous smile signaling the more lighthearted nature of their conversation, "perhaps I can pass down our old training pastime, eh, sensei?" Sarutobi didn't dignify that with a response, but both were thinking about how they would use Jiraiya's camouflage jutsu to enter the female side of the onsen and see the big, wonderful… _eyes_ of the women inside.

With that, both sensei and student laughed, reminiscing about old days, and old shinobi, living and dead. Of course, Jiraiya couldn't stay in his sensei's office for too long – he had work to do! Icha Icha tactics wasn't going to write itself!

The next morning, Naruto was having a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku. Normally, he wouldn't have Ichiraku Ramen more than once a day, but Naruto was pondering, and the Ichiraku family were wonderful listeners, and business was typically slow during those hours.

Thus, the Ichirakus, and in particular Ayame, kept up with Naruto and some of his thoughts – his conflicting emotions towards Tenten, his worry about his team, and pondering meeting with a fellow competitor in the chunin exams for dinner in a few hours.

Before long, a man sat down next to Naruto, who was surprised – it was Ebisu, the highfalutin, cocky, and immensely anti-Naruto tobetsku jonin.

"Long time no see, Naruto." Said Ebisu, turning towards Naruto. Naruto, suspicious, nodded and put on a fake smile, a dark feeling settling in his stomach.

"Yeah, long time no see."

"I've been asked to tutor you this month, as a favor to my old classmate Kakashi." Naruto suspected this, but his heart plummeted nonetheless.

"Ah. What will we be working on, Ebisu-san?" Said Naruto, not looking at his new sensei's smug grin.

"We'll be going to the hot springs to work on your water-walking." Naruto's eyebrows raised. He had worked on it a little bit with Kakashi, but he hadn't really had a chance to work on it.

A few minutes later, Naruto watched as a man on a great toad defeated his 'sensei' with ease. As the white-haired man with the oil kanji on his hitai-ate turned towards him, Naruto had the feeling that this man saw more than just the boy in front of him.

"Were you his student, kid?" Naruto nodded, but then looked at the sun's position in the sky. While Naruto was by no means an expert on the sun's position relative to time, he understood that it would be the evening soon enough, and should head back to his apartment soon, if not straight to Ichiraku's to meet Ajisai.

"I suppose I was. My sensei is working with one of my other teammates, so I got him." Naruto pointed at Ebisu.

"I don't envy you, kid. Want to learn a thing or two from me? I promise you'll be the greatest ninja on the block once you learn from the greatest sensei ever – the mighty Jiraiya-samaaa!" Naruto looked at the strange pose, and then registered the even stranger theatrical performance brought on by the sage.

Naruto was by no means ungrateful, but he knew who the greatest sensei was, and Jiraiya would never be the greatest of anything in a competition with Tenshi, except perhaps his perversion and extravagance, thought Naruto.

"I appreciate your offer, Jiraiya-sama, but I don't want to be a bother." Said Naruto, deflecting the actual question of whether he was interested. Even through their strange communication, Konan seemed to have a knack for assessing the truth of Naruto's statements, and as such, he didn't trust himself to lie outright.

Bowing, Naruto shunshin'd out, missing the perplexed expression on Jiraiya's face. It seemed that the sage would have to be more forceful in teaching his godson.

 **And cut! Shorter chapter today, focusing on the perspective of someone who's gotten nonexistent screentime (don't worry, Konan will get her fair share soon). As this chapter focuses on Jiraiya, and a high-ranking Konoha-nin's opinion of Naruto's skill set so far.**

 **My questions for you all today are two-fold: Firstly: What do you think about Jiraiya's impact on Naruto, now that he sees things are lining up in a rather suspicious way for his godson? Secondly: If you have read ANBU's Mascot, which chapter is your favorite? My favorite is chapter 8, even if it lacks the wondrous ANBU agent 'Flamingo'.**

 **Have a good day,**

 **~KoS**


	10. Chapter 10: Ajisai of Amegakure

**I was feeling too lazy to write, so I decided to upload, but I'd like to give you all a few bits of info about where the story is at. As of right now, the document that holds only story content is roughly 46k words (Should be 48k or so by the end of tonight, and perhaps somewhere between 50-52k by next Monday?), so I can start to update more frequently soon. I will likely hold on to most of the chapters and only release them in a somewhat controlled manner, so that when I return to college, I can still upload content to be read when I have a chance (Every 2 weeks is the plan). I will likely not be writing much during that time period, until Thanksgiving or so.**

 **ShulkXMelia23: I sent you a PM just now, so we can talk about specific topics. As for why Tenten and Konan are taking a back seat (and will continue to for this chapter), it's primarily because of where they fit in: Naruto's character in this story is fundamentally that of a loner seeking true connections. Naruto will gain those connections, and they will strengthen him, but he must suffer for a little bit longer in order to reach paradise. I wanted to give you another chapter to read before you leave on your trip, so I hope it's a good one!**

 **alex problematico fuentes:** **Si disfrutas la venganza, creo que te gustará el final de este capítulo. Además, parece que su nombre se borra en el administrador de documentos debido a que tiene períodos seguidos de más texto, por lo que solo eliminaré los puntos de su nombre cuando responda a usted.**

 **RedFoxx: No worries, and thanks for the catch!**

 **theriku260: I feel rather guilty for causing such a thing on your Pomeranian, but I am also rather happy & amused to see that you haven't denied any of the things I claim to have sent you over PMs. Perhaps the time is right to use my powers of seduction :).**

 **Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: There's a lot of different topics in your reviews, so I'll respond to a few of the things. 1. I'm glad you noticed the team from the Chunin Exams arc. 2. Konan is an Angel in just about everything she does, so I guess so, yeah. 3. I like Ajisai much more when she's alive than as a path of Pein as well. 4. Forced godson bonding time? ;D**

 **Here is the chapter:**

Naruto decided to pass by Ichiraku on the way back to his apartment, and thus walked by, seeing Ajisai in the ramen stand, likely waiting for him.

Sighing, Naruto realized that he had more or less wasted the bulk of today. Between waiting for his new sensei and thus neglecting training, learning nothing about water walking from his pervert of a teacher, and having said sensei taken out of commission by someone who rubbed Naruto the wrong way, Naruto resolved to have his conversation with Ajisai have _some_ value.

"Ohayo, Ajisai-san." Ajisai looked over at Naruto, and allowed a very small smile to grace her face.

"Ohayo, Naruto-san." Said Ajisai, as Naruto sat down beside her.

"Have you been to Ichiraku Ramen before?" Ajisai shook her head, as Ayame walked in, hearing the voice of her favorite customer.

"Ooh, Naruto-kun! Are you having your first date? Your girlfriend is so pretty!" Naruto's cheeks reddened, but he laughed good-naturedly. Ajisai was taken aback at Ayame's remarks, and remained silent, unsure of the best way to respond.

"Not quite, Ayame-nee. Believe it or not, Ajisai-san here is a competitor in the Chunin exams! I owe her, and so here we are!" Ayame nodded in understanding.

"Ahh, which would explain why I don't recognize her clothes. Where are you from, Ajisai-chan?" Ajisai looked at Ayame before responding. The young woman was pretty, if rather bland, and she seemed to be kind in a genuine sort of way. If not for the others of Konoha she had fought against, Ajisai would have wondered if being genuine was a key trait of Konoha-nin.

"Amegakure, Ichiraku-san." Said Ajisai, before Naruto asked a question of his own.

"Have you got your ramen, Ajisai-san? If we're going to talk, we may as well have good ramen in the process." Ajisai nodded, before looking at the menu. What kind of ramen would make for a good dinner?

"Shio, please." Said Ajisai, as Naruto ordered his signature Miso with extra Chashu. As their ramen arrived, Ajisai had one question that, while seemingly arbitrary, had value.

"Why is she so familiar with you, Naruto-san? Is she a relative?" Naruto turned towards Ayame before chuckling.

"No, not really, but Ayame-nee and her father are two of my most precious people in Konoha." Naruto paused, and Ajisai saw his expression darken, before returning towards a more neutral/happy expression.

"Something worth saying is that I don't have any family, at least none that I know of. When I was younger, I lived in the orphanage system. One day, I walked out to play in one of Konoha's summer storms," Said Naruto, gesturing to imaginary warm rain, the strange but exciting smell of ozone permeating his nose through his memory, "and one of the orphanage staff pretended he didn't know me when I asked to come back in. What happened after that was nothing short of a miracle, Ajisai-san. Nothing short of it." Ajisai looked at Naruto, curious what hope Naruto saw.

"Out of nowhere, Teuchi-san, Ayame's father, offered to let me inside, and gave me a bowl of ramen. When I told him I didn't have any money, he told me that it was already paid for, and that's when I met her." Said Naruto. Ajisai wanted to ask who, but silently waited.

"I remember it like it was only yesterday – she was taller than me, but I was also so young… She looked cold and uncaring, but she gave me ramen, and because of her, I met the Ichiraku family. I only met her two more times, you know. Once before she left, and once when things were… not good." Said Naruto, and Ajisai knew that she wouldn't be privy to any of those stories. Outside, Jiraiya was also listening, although he was hidden.

"Who was she?" Asked Ajisai. Ayame looked over.

"You know, I think she had a soft spot for you, Naruto-kun." Naruto shook his head, but Ayame continued.

"You were really young, so you probably didn't notice it as well as I did, but she was paying attention to you the entire time, even when you thought she wasn't listening. Of course, you could almost consider her a guardian angel, couldn't you?" Naruto nodded sagely, grunting ever so slightly.

"Yeah. I think you were pretty close when you asked if she was a Tenshi, Ayame-nee." Meanwhile, Ajisai was compartmentalizing what Naruto was saying. Tenshi-sama, in Konoha? Saving the village Jinchuriki? Jiraiya was listening close, and wondered if this woman was the one who taught Naruto the Ame and Uzu techniques.

"No kidding?" Naruto laughed.

"Well, think about it this way, Ayame-nee. She saved my life three times." He held up three fingers, and counted them off. "Once, by putting me into contact with you. I still remember the fact that I stayed that night with you two, and Teuchi-ojisan was the one who walked me to the Hokage's office to help deal with my housing, not even mentioning all the bowls you gave me when times were hard." Ajisai could start to understand why Tenshi's view of Konoha citizens was less harsh than many of the other higher-ups of both Ame and the Rebellion.

"The second time was when she met me again before she left. She gave me hope, and proved that how I met you all wasn't just a fever dream." Ayame snorted softly. Naruto didn't get sick, ever.

"The third is because the last time I saw her in person, she saved my life." Ayame looked over in interest, and Ajisai's interest hadn't wavered ever since she pieced together who this woman was. For the Ame genin, this was eye-opening, hearing about a new story of her idol, and seeing witnesses to it. For Jiraiya, this provided a whole host of questions and opportunities to get information.

"Really? What kind of danger were you in, Naruto-kun?" Asked Ayame, a hard expression entering her eye. While one part promised hostility to whoever or whatever would endanger the Uzumaki, it also promised pain to the boy who didn't come to his older sister for help. Naruto saw the expression and deduced what it roughly meant, and gave a placating expression to her.

"Please don't worry about it, Ayame-nee. It was a time when you guys were super busy, Jiji was busy, and Iruka-sensei was busy. Plus, I wasn't even hurt, I was just saved from what could've been a bad situation." While a decent portion of this was outright lies, Naruto was desperate to minimize the truth, both because of the risk of incurring Ayame's wrath, and the risk of saying too much. While Naruto was confident that he wasn't being listened to by unwanted ears, he was still a shinobi, and something about the atmosphere felt a little bit off.

Ajisai stared at Naruto again, and Naruto was slightly uncomfortable with her purple eyes fixing on him for so long, although he couldn't quite piece together the reason. Sitting next to her, while she sat in the seat his sensei sat in all those years ago brought up some emotions within him. Some were pleasant, some were reverent, borderline religious, and others still raised up from the abandoned child within, who merely wanted attention and didn't know what mistake caused his abandonment by said sensei. The part he repressed deep inside was his fear – what if she had died? What if he could _never_ see her again?

"I take it you haven't seen her?" Naruto shook his head, his expression turning decidedly sadder.

"No. Maybe one day I'll see her again, if I'm lucky. I don't even know her name." Naruto sighed, and Ajisai could see the boy go through a mental reset of sorts.

"Oh well. Let's get onto some more pleasant topics, I suppose. I have a lot of stories to tell, I guess. Anything that you'd like to know?" With that, Ajisai asked about a series of questions – Naruto's life growing up, his hobbies, habits, and his dreams.

"Maybe I'll become Hokage." Said Naruto, but it wasn't nearly as ardently as he would have proclaimed it years ago. Ajisai laughed.

"Maybe? Those are some interesting assumptions you've got, Naruto-san." Naruto turned towards Ajisai, inwardly happy. This was the first time he had been able to make his dinner partner laugh outwardly.

"Really? What are your dreams then, Ajisai-san?" Naruto responded, a wry grin on his face.

Over the minutes they talked, as they finished their first bowls and had their second, and then a drink of hot, aromatic tea, Ajisai had gradually become more emotional towards him – showing more visible emotion in her responses, asking questions inquisitively, and responding more frequently.

It seemed that as their conversation dragged on, Ajisai was becoming comparable socially to others of her age group, rather than an emotionless copy of Tenshi-sensei, assuming that was who she was emulating most of the time.

"Well, I suppose it's getting late, Ajisai-san. I don't want to get you in trouble with your team for staying out too late." Said Naruto, and Ajisai nodded, only then realizing how long she had been there. It felt like minutes of talking, but in reality, nearly two hours had gone by. As that day had been rather slow for Ichiraku's, Ayame packed up the cooking supplies, while listening into their conversations.

Ayame hadn't really seen Naruto with friends before – his 'friends' in the academy were merely other boys he skipped class with, and the people who he did visit with were often adults, people doing what they could to give connections and time to a young boy with no family. This felt like the start of a good, healthy friendship.

As Ajisai made to pay for her ramen and tea, Naruto gestured for her to stop, before paying for both of their meals.

"Don't worry about it, Ajisai-san. I'll walk you back to wherever your team is staying, too. That way, if they try to get you in trouble, I can take the blame." Ajisai was about to retort, not only because she could pay for herself and walk on her own, but also because she wasn't petty enough to shift blame onto someone else. Still, she bit her tongue. Such outbursts were not for the subordinates of Tenshi-sama. Thus, she allowed him to do walk her back as well, and as he wished her a good night and fruitful training, she saw him start to walk back to his apartment.

Inside, she saw Fuyo, Suiren, and Tenshi-sama. The first was lazily looking around the room, and turned, waving to Ajisai. The second was sitting in a corner, presumably waiting for her teammate too. Tenshi-sama's expression was unreadable.

"Tenshi-sama." Said Ajisai, closing the door and kneeling before her angel.

"How was your meeting with Naruto, Ajisai? Was it fruitful?" Ajisai hesitated, but then nodded, before asking a question.

"May I ask about something he told me, Tenshi-sama?" Konan nodded.

"He mentioned a woman who saved him three times, emotionally controlled," Here, Ajisai was modifying the words so that the nuance would be more positive, "and like an angel. Was he talking about you, Tenshi-sama?" Konan allowed a very small smile to appear.

"Naruto and the woman at Ramen Ichiraku were not lying to you. I never told you the specifics behind how I got to know my oldest student, but now you know the story, more or less." Ajisai wanted to ask so many questions now – how did she save Naruto's life? Why was Naruto unsure about her? Why didn't he say she was his sensei? How did she know who was at the ramen place with them? With a pointed look from Konan, Ajisai fessed up her questions.

"Ajisai, you have to understand the reality of my life – I am a commander and kunoichi in a war for my home, not only Naruto's sensei. You of all people realize the state of the war." Ajisai understood clearly – their side, the rebellion, was winning, but they were in a crucial state – had they not been as careful, and not got the small advantages across many battles, Hanzo wouldn't be holed up in his tower, using his subordinates of subordinates as emissaries and commanders in battle.

If what Konan knew was true, Heiji would be the representative of Amegakure for the final stages of Konoha's chunin exams, and if that didn't speak to Amegakure's weakness, what did?

"And as for how I saved his life, you can understand _how_ I managed to save a boy from a drunk mob intent on killing an innocent boy." Ajisai's eyes widened – she didn't know the circumstances. "As for your other questions, I tend to keep things about my personal life closed off. In fact, you three are the only ones who know about my relation to Naruto."

Ajisai felt her heart clench. In that moment, she could feel her devotion to her Lady growing even greater. Even though Pein was the god of the revolution, Ajisai was not inspired by his bloodshed and cruelty, but by the angel who saved the poor souls caught in crossfire after reaping the fields of Hanzo loyalists.

"As for how I knew, the reasoning is rather simple. I heard the entire conversation, and I wasn't the only one." Said Konan. Ajisai was shocked. "Jiraiya of the Sannin was listening in the entire time. I don't know if Naruto knew, but he certainly did a good job at keeping his persona difficult to read, even if he did use numerous foreign techniques during the Chunin exams." Said Konan, a touch of disapproval at the last remark, mixed in with pride.

"What would you have me do, Tenshi-sama?" Konan pondered.

"As Jiraiya-sensei was listening in to his dinnertime conversations instead of his other _hobbies_ , he must have an interest in the boy outside of his jinchuriki status. Perhaps one day, after his training, you can ask him to have dinner with our team. Fuyo, Suiren." She said, now turning to her other genin.

"Hai, Tenshi-sama?" they responded.

"As Ajisai will both be training for the final round and connecting with Naruto, I expect the two of you to support her in her training, and prepare the watercress salad for our team dinner." While Fuyo and Suiren would normally be relaxed and formal respectively, they were both in awe and terrified at the prospect of making food that their angel would eat, for such an important occasion as seeing her oldest student.

"Hai, Tenshi-sama!" The duo said, and started preparing notes and plans for the meal itself, which would end up going far beyond the initial salad that Konan suggested.

"Thank you. As for you, Ajisai," She said, "continue training hard, and foster your friendship with Naruto. I have high hopes for what he could be one day, and you would do well to become strong when the time comes." Ajisai took her Lady's words to heart, and smiled, happy at her task.

With that, the Angel of Amegakure set in motion another key part of her student's life and development, as, unknown to each other, both sensei and student watched as the sky turned from a clear night sky to a warm summer rain, and smiled.

The next day, Naruto walked back to the hot springs. While he detested Ebisu, he did acknowledge that his strategy of using hot water as a motivator for properly walking on water was useful. Of course, after failing the first couple times, he heard a giggling coming from somewhere in front of him.

Turning, he saw Jiraiya, eyes on binoculars peeping into the women's side of the hot springs. While Naruto was peeved, he didn't get truly peeved until he realized he could hear Tenten's voice on the other side. Perving was one thing. Perving on his old friend was a whole different beast. Perving on his old friend who he might or might not have feelings in some way slightly, possibly, maybe more than platonic manner, whom he couldn't connect with because of his own guilt? Naruto saw red. Growling, he got up from the hot water, before charging at this old man.

Lost in his perversions, Jiraiya didn't register Naruto behind him until he kicked the old man into the women's side of the baths, yelling after him.

"He's been peeping on you, ladies. Beat him black and blue!" Tenten was shocked to hear Naruto's voice, but registered what he was saying, and turned towards Jiraiya.

Several hours later, two people left the hot springs in the pursuit of Naruto. Tenten, who ardently joined in the beating of Jiraiya, wanted to talk to him, and felt that their inability to talk had gone on long enough. Jiraiya, like an undying Edo Tensei, a vengeful ghost, or a nigh-unkillable pervert, was determined to give Naruto the most painful training he would ever experience in his current (and next three or four, for good measure) lives.

But first, he should probably get some medical attention.

 **The next chapter will either be released on Friday the 27th or Sunday the 29th - it really depends where I'm at with writing. I want to keep a significant buffer for when I go back to college. Here is my question for you all: Where do you feel Ajisai fits in relative to Naruto and Tenten? I already know where she will end up, but I'm not going to spoil it (yet) or change things around, with the exception of adding her as a main character on the fic's 'Properties' tab.**


	11. Chapter 11: Reunion! Old Friends Meet!

**Hello. I'm once again trying to cut down on Author's Notes, so I'll just answer a common theme that has been cropping up: I will try to answer less questions about where the plot is going. In a PM I received, I was asked a question explicitly about the pairing, and declined to answer. As such, I will not give any more replies that will act as spoilers for future chapters. Now, I will reply to reviews.**

 **ShulkXMelia23: No matter how Konan's character changes, she is _still_ the one who saved his life. Aside from that, there are two things that really define where she is in this story: her actions, and Naruto's perception of her. Information is imperfect, and all that jazz. Thank you for the advice over all these chapters.**

 **Guest: I'm glad it was appreciated. One common trope surrounding Jiraiya is his near invulnerability when it comes to repercussions for his perversity. This was carried over for comedic value.**

 **Antex: "Who knows?" is what I'll reply right back to you - one of the themes in this fic that becomes much more apparent throughout is ambiguity. Where are peoples' connections? Do feelings of characters match their end-fic results, or will there be letdowns and disappointments? I personally enjoy ambiguity, and think that it makes characters more lifelike.**

 **With that said, here is the chapter.**

* * *

Naruto sat down, worn out from his training. While he hadn't seen Ebisu since his humiliating defeat at Jiraiya's hands, Naruto still trained excessively.

He started with the creation of dozens of clones, and had them spar and practice with the various ninjutsu techniques he had picked up, while Naruto took a squad of his own to practice taijutsu. Seeing as how Naruto was against a Hyuuga, whose taijutsu inflicted wounds that were difficult to see, he had created a rather unorthodox method of training – he dipped the hands of his clones in red paint, so that he would see everywhere he was getting hit.

After all, his taijutsu likely couldn't hold a candle to Hinata's, why should he try to engage her elder cousin in a similar bout?

After using his Sensory Tags, and working on his improved sensory tags, he used them in battle against his clones. At first, he used both tags and kept his eyes open. After that, he blindfolded himself in order to maximize his usage of the sensory tags.

It was using these that he detected his visitor. Recognizing her chakra signature from the preliminaries, Naruto frowned at the sight of Tenten watching his practice. Her chakra felt agitated. He didn't interrupt her, but rather, allowed her to be there. After all, if she was scouting him out for Neji, she probably wouldn't realize he was aware of it. If she wasn't, she was wasting her own time, thus giving Naruto a slightly better shot at the tournament.

As Naruto's chakra stores continued to diminish, and his body ached with pain, he sat down. It was at this point that Tenten stepped out of the bushes. As she started walking towards Naruto, he turned towards her, blindfold still on. A second later, he picked up something coming towards him. Instinctively putting his arms up to catch or block whatever it was, he was surprised to feel a bottle in his hand.

Taking his blindfold off, he looked at it, before sniffing the contents. Realizing it was just normal water, he took a sip, and looked up towards Tenten, confused. She had a steely glint in her eyes, and as Naruto saw her march up to him, he berated himself for training so hard he couldn't move as well. He knew this wouldn't end well, although if you asked him he couldn't tell you why.

"Long time no chat, Naruto." Said Tenten. She grabbed Naruto by his hoodie and lifted him up until their faces were close.

"Yeah… It has been, Tenten." Said Naruto, trying to blink the sweat out of his eyes. One moment, he was being suspended above the ground by his old friend, the next he was thrown on the ground. The impact of his face on the ground snapped Naruto out of the heat-based daze he had been in.

"What was that for?" He asked. Naruto's self-deprecating habits ensured that he felt he was responsible somehow, and his feelings towards Tenten amplified that and minimized the chance that she could ever, under any circumstances, do any wrong in his mind.

"I was listening, you know." Said Tenten. At Naruto's confused expression, she clarified, "I heard you in the tower, trying to make that Ame team go easy on my team in those matches. Why did you do that?" Naruto didn't know how to respond, both because he was sure his under-the-table deal would be both secret and reasonable, but not only was Naruto's ploy discovered, but it wasn't even necessary – Tenten smashed Suiren.

Naruto gathered his thoughts, staring into the face of the person he had so desperately avoided in recent days. Finally, Tenten's angry front broke, and a more disappointed expression came over her face.

"Do you really think I'm so weak, Naruto? Do you think I haven't grown from the little girl in the orphanage?" Naruto's eyes widened, and he realized she might not be as angry as he thought.

"No, it was just… That Ame team took you guys down so quickly, and…" Tenten cut him off.

"That could happen to any team, Naruto. That could easily happen to you too!" Naruto nodded.

"Exactly. That's why I wanted to make sure they didn't do something like that to you again." Tenten's emotions were a bit of a whirlwind, akin to a well-mixed pastry dough. There was a base of frustration and anxiety mixed with sprinkles of positive emotion here and there – Naruto did care for her, and he seemed fine enough. Perhaps their friendship could still be salvaged?

"I realized that the Ame team, for whatever reason, wanted to help me out. I took a gamble, and figured that since it was your scroll that got us to the next stage, I should repay the debt." Naruto's eyes softened.

"I'm sorry, Tenten." He meant it. Not only because of the exam, but for abandoning her. It seemed that she understood well enough, as she let him down. Naruto crumpled to the ground, and Tenten sat beside him.

"I'm sorry as well, Naruto, but don't underestimate me!" Naruto nodded, groaning as he sat back up.

"So, was that the only reason you came here, Tenten?" Tenten looked confused.

"Not that I'm unhappy to see you here, I really am. I missed you." Tenten allowed a soft smile to arrive. Her adoptive parents loved her to death, but her team was not one that exactly emphasized real, genuine emotions. In between her emotionally locked off and arrogant Hyuuga teammate to the 'youthful' spandex-wearing duo, she had very little emotional connection with her peers. Tenten's serious demeanor when it came to becoming a strong kunoichi didn't help her much either, especially with the diminished zeal in the academy students who one day became her peers.

"What do you mean by only reason?" Tenten was glad, but she was still curious.

"I'm facing your teammate in the next round. I was wondering how much of what you saw you were going to relay back to him." Tenten laughed.

"Want me to be honest, Naruto?" He nodded. "Your odds of beating him are less than one in one hundred. But if you do somehow beat him, I'll be grateful." Naruto was surprised.

"What is this Neji character like? I assume he's much different without Hinata around?" Tenten shook her head.

"Not really. He's every bit as proud and fixated on fate as you saw. He's a bit less murderous though." Naruto and Tenten sat in silence, as they both pondered the Hyuuga's characteristics.

"That must be rough." Naruto said. Neji seemed like a more exacerbated version of Sasuke's negative characteristics, and he wondered what it would take for him to become a _normal_ human being. Yawning, Naruto shook his head, and picked up the water bottle Tenten had thrown him, taking a long drought and sighing in relief. Cold water on a hot day was a miracle unlike any other.

"So, how do you feel about your opponent in the next round, that Kankuro fellow?" Tenten pondered.

"I think that his puppet is difficult to deal with, but if you are able to either target him, or simply blast through his puppet, it won't be a big deal." Naruto nodded.

"So, what's your plan for dealing with Neji?" Naruto shot her a skeptical look.

"Are you sure that you aren't spying for Neji? I won't be mad if you are, you know." Tenten laughed, and Naruto was reminded of older, better times, when it was just the two of them against the world in the orphanage. Laughing alongside her, Naruto made to stand up, but found himself far too weak from the intensity of his training.

"Oh! Are you okay, Naruto-kun?" Asked Tenten. Naruto noted the new suffix to his name, but ignored it for the time being in favor of dealing with the pain in his system.

"Hehe, I think I trained a little too hard. Sorry, Tenten." Said Naruto. Tenten chuckled and helped him up, placing one of his arms around her shoulders as she placed her arm around his waist.

"Here, I may as well help you get back. Where are you going to?" Asked Tenten. Naruto shrugged.

"I figured I'd get some ramen from Ichiraku's, considering I can't really make myself food in this state." Tenten frowned.

"There's no protein in that, Naruto-kun." Naruto looked up at her with some effort.

"Where would you suggest I go then?" Tenten shrugged.

"How about Yakiniku Q, or the new dumpling place?" Naruto replied that he had never been to a dumpling place before, at which point he found himself being dragged to a restaurant he had never visited before by Tenten.

Keeping his hood up, Naruto was able to enter alongside Tenten without any trouble. The two sat down, and before long, Naruto met every single one of Tenten's favorite foods. From Gyoza to Nikuman, with the possibility of soup dumplings and dango with tea at the end, Naruto rather quickly learned that if the food in front of her was a dumpling, it would likely be enjoyed.

Of course, Naruto enjoyed the food as well – not only was it a new experience on an empty stomach, but the emotional state of Tenten became more comfortable than the awkwardness and anger she had held towards him in recent times. In some ways, Naruto could compare her to her younger self, but knew that diminishing Tenten in any way, shape, or form, was not an ideal plan.

If Naruto could describe her emotions in that moment, he would probably go with content. Her energy rose and fell over the course of conversation and food, her tone more serious during serious conversation and lighthearted during funny topics.

In some ways, Naruto pondered, having a meal with Tenten was vastly different from Ajisai – rather than a cold, but deeply interested listener who came out of her shell after a long period of time, Tenten's demeanor was like a child in a warm summer day – energetic, happy, going from one topic to the next.

When she heard his story about being more or less exiled from the orphanage, she cursed the management staff. When Naruto talked about being more or less alone, she gave him a sympathetic smile, but avoided pitying him.

When she heard about Naruto's adventures fighting Zabuza and Haku in Nami no Kuni, she played every part of the active audience – excitement during battles, inquisitive questions during good times, and sadness for the deaths of the Mist-nin, his apprentice, and the suffering of Nami's citizens.

"Well, I gotta say, we haven't had many missions like that with Gai-sensei." Tenten said. Before long, the question of 'what was Naruto up to' changed to 'Tenten's life story', and things continued from there.

Of course, each had things they were holding back – Tenten never asked about what happened with Naruto and the mob, nor did she mention the emotional pain she went through, her own self-imposed guilt, or her self-esteem issues on Team Gai. Naruto, for his part, didn't talk about Tenshi, the mob incident, or his own guilt.

Both held back their own stories of great suffering, but each could tell there was relief in the other. At some point in the topic, they individually realized that the pain and confusion caused by separation were reflected in each other. Through coming back into contact as friends, as fellow shinobi, and competitors, they were healed.

Not too long after, they paid for their meal and departed, before vowing to help each other train, considering that Naruto and Tenten were in different competitor pools. Naruto also realized that Ajisai was in a different competitor pool from the both of them. What if they all trained together, or he at least trained with both of them? It was an interesting prospect at the very least.

As Naruto was close to getting home, feeling ready to work on his fuinjutsu and calligraphy, he felt eyes watching him. He didn't know who, but he felt that someone was following him, from street to street. As he discretely put a sensory tag on himself, Naruto closed his eyes and reached out to find any chakra signatures worth nothing.

Before long, he came across a signature different from the rest – it wasn't as large as a Jinchuriki like himself, or that sand genin Gaara, but it was larger than most jonin, and rather than being a blue color, or a blue color with a red tint like himself or Gaara, it was blue with a green tint. While Naruto understood that blue must represent human chakra, and theorized that red chakra had something to do with demons, he had no idea what _green_ chakra should mean.

Quickly, Naruto slipped into an alleyway and hid, waiting for the signature to come. Scanning around, however, he felt… nothing. Where did that one go?

"Nice try, kid. I didn't realize you could sense me." Said an amused voice behind him. Turning, Naruto saw Jiraiya, grinning at him.

"Hello there, Jiraiya-sama." Said Naruto, bowing slightly. "I'm glad to see you're no longer hanging around the hot springs." Jiraiya's smile became like ice – frozen and angry, leaking killing intent.

"I really need to pay you back for that, gaki. I don't think anyone in your generation was brave enough to oppose me in my moment of research." Jiraiya's killing intent increased dramatically.

"Are you going to kill me, Jiraiya-sama?" Jiraiya laughed.

"Not quite. However, I'm going to train you so hard you wish I had." Naruto was now worried, and shunshin'd out, back to his apartment. Looking around with both eyes and sensory tags, he sighed in relief, before a hand appeared on his shoulder.

"I'll see you at five in the morning, gaki. Be ready for hell." Naruto was now disgruntled, but nodded nonetheless. The quicker he got away from this crazy sage, the quicker he could plan something to save his own life. Entering his apartment, Naruto sat down, and prepared for nearly two hours – making new tags, experimenting with strategies in his head, and trying to utilize what he knew about the sage, which was honestly very little.

Groaning, Naruto realized that he didn't have much time to continue if he was going to get a reasonable sleep. Hoping that going to sleep earlier would translate into waking up early enough, he fell asleep.

"Rise and shine, Gaki!" Naruto had little time to blink before he was dragged from his couch (he had fallen asleep there), out of his apartment, and shunshin'd to a training field. As Naruto was suddenly awake, he realized that he hadn't woken up before five. Luckily, he had good enough instincts to get moving, but as Jiraiya started his training, Naruto wondered how the Yondaime Hokage had lived long enough with this type of regiment.

* * *

 **My next question for you all: What will Jiraiya teach Naruto? Do you all think that Naruto will learn Summoning, or Rasengan, or something else entirely? And a side question: I personally enjoyed seeing Naruto work hard over a long span of time, and feel that element is lacking from the Boruto series, at least in regards to Boruto himself. What do you think about this shift in exposure to training in Boruto versus Naruto?**

 **Have a solid time,**

 **~KoS**


	12. Chapter 12: Jiraiya's Nostalgia!

**Hello friends, here is my next chapter. If anyone is curious, here are some interesting statistics about this story. Of the 8,646 views this story gained for July (As of 7/29), 3,448 (39.9%) are for the first two chapters.**

 **This means that only ~60% of views are for the other 9 chapters, and one can imagine that these numbers don't accurately reflect the viewer count, considering that one person who reads each chapter twice (or refreshes once per read-through) would account for 22 views in total, and 11 visitations.**

 **Also, my document that holds this story has hit two milestones: 50k words, and 100 pages. I'm stockpiling as many chapters as possible for when I return to school, so I can upload them once every two-three weeks or so.**

 **Anyhow, here are the review replies before we get into this chapter:**

 **Redfoxx: You and me both on that Boruto point - it's rather funny, considering that I actually like most of the new generation's genin, especially those who don't have connections to the old guard. In particular, I find the all-kunoichi team, Shikadai, and the Suna team to have quite interesting design & abilities.**

 **Ejammer: I can understand why you find cranes to be interesting - the origami crane is deeply tied to certain pieces of mythology, especially in relation to luck. Plus, cranes (and birds as a whole) would fit this story's Naruto.**

 **Antex: Glad you enjoyed it. "It should be helpful" is once again a wonderful phrase from your review I will spit back at you. Naruto will learn a few new things, but don't expect him to be suddenly pulling Madara's Katon, Shippuden Sasuke's Raiton, Danzo's Futon, Tobirama's Suiton, or Akatsuchi's Doton out of his tail end.**

 **alex problematico puentes:** **Esas son todas ideas interesantes, y al estar en línea con mi nueva promesa, no puedo revelar cuáles serán las habilidades de Naruto para los exámenes de Chunin. En cuanto al punto de Boruto, estoy completamente de acuerdo. Esa es una de las principales razones por las que no me gusta su personaje, junto con su necesidad de básicamente no entrenar y obtener toneladas de jutsu de la nada.**

 **theriku260: I actually liked that about canon Jiraiya, believe it or not: I feel that his laid-back approach forced Naruto to learn on his own, and grow his own strength without using anyone or anything else as a crutch, and not showing Naruto how to use it in battle goes along with the theme of Naruto's entire combative kit being super flexible. Full agreement about the Boruto point as well.**

 **Here is the new chapter:**

* * *

It was later that day that Ajisai found Naruto, half-dragging himself to Ichiraku. Seeing her friend(?) in some type of training-induced agony, she put one of his arms over her shoulders and helped move him forward.

"What happened, Naruto-san?" Naruto looked up to see Ajisai, but was too tired to call her –san, so went with the more conversational –chan.

"Thanks for the save, Ajisai-chan. Mind helping me a little? I got destroyed in training today." Ajisai looked over Naruto, and the numerous wounds, burn marks, and slashes across his jacket.

"I can see that. What are you learning?" Naruto groaned.

"We didn't actually work on learning anything new, per se. I think it was revenge for kicking him into the bathhouse he was spying on." Ah. That would be why he was beaten to hell and back.

"That's a shame." Said Ajisai. Naruto shook his head.

"I'll do the same thing the next time he spies on the baths when one of my friends is inside. While I was figuring out what to do, I heard one of my friends inside the baths, and was pissed off." Ajisai was internally happy, but unsure if she was even close to being that level of friend.

"Oh?" Naruto seemed to have caught something of her internal question on her face.

"I'd do the same thing if he spied on you too, you know." Ajisai smiled and looked away, a slight bit of pink on her face, but her expression returned to a frown.

"I don't like that one of Konoha's legendary Sannin is beating you up for petty revenge, Naruto."

"How did you know it was Jiraiya?" Ajisai noticed her slip-up a second too late, but recovered quickly enough.

"So apparently him and my sensei were both keeping an eye on us when we had dinner at Ichiraku's. I figured that if one of the Sannin is spying on you, and given his reputation…" Naruto laughed, but it was short.

"So the old perv is spying on me for whatever reason… Jeez. And your sensei too?" Ajisai nodded.

"Yeah."

"So, does that have to do with why you're so interested in helping me out?" Ajisai was conflicted with this, and there wasn't a simple answer.

"At first, it was. I think I'm helping you out because I want to, at least after that dinner." Naruto could tell the answer came from the heart, and his arm around her shoulders gripped tighter.

"Thanks. For being honest with me." Ajisai smiled serenely.

"By the way, would you like to get food with my team and myself sometime before the final exam?" Naruto frowned, realizing he could possibly be in danger, but then remembered his own suspicions about Ajisai's sensei.

"Alright, I suppose." As they walked to Ichiraku, and Ajisai placed a ramen order for the half-dead Naruto, they decided to have food with the Amegakure team two nights from then, seeing as their sensei needed to return to Amegakure with Fuyo and Suiren not too long afterwards.

Teuchi came up to them with a big bowl of ramen, looking with amusement at Naruto's half-dead state. He had already heard about Naruto's Amegakure 'friend' from Ayame.

"Ah, Naruto-kun!" Naruto looked up at Teuchi, before perking up at the sight of a large misu with extra chashu.

"Ohayo, Teuchi-ojisan. Thank you for the ramen." He laughed.

"Not a problem, my boy. How is the new dumpling place? It's pretty decent, isn't it?" Naruto looked surprised.

"It's pretty good, yeah. How did you know I went there?" Teuchi laughed.

"My cousin's the owner! She married an Akimichi, and most of their recipes are from civilian Akimichi families. I must admit, Naruto, you've become quite impressive. Most boys struggle to get a girl to get food with them, but you've got not just one but two girls!" Naruto looked peeved at his comment.

"Oi Teuchi-oji, Tenten-chan and Ajisai-chan are my friends, don't make assumptions! Plus, should you even be making comments like that while Ajisai-chan is sitting right next to me?" Teuchi laughed sheepishly.

"Well said, Naruto-kun. Forgive an old man for a slip of the tongue?" Naruto looked at Ajisai, who nodded. As such, he forgave without any issues. Of course, this reminded Naruto of something.

"Oh yeah, I promised Tenten I would train with her on one of the weekend days. Do you want to train on the other day?" Ajisai raised an eyebrow before questioning which friend he was training with. Naruto explained the fact that she was in pool two, and as such, the three of them could train together until they faced each other in the final round of the exam's tournament.

Ajisai smiled and accepted, but added the fact that she would like to meet Tenten as an acquaintance at some point.

Later on, Naruto and Ajisai finished their meal, and Naruto headed back to his home, which he started to equip with numerous seals to prevent unwanted visitors. He keyed Ajisai and Tenten's chakra signatures to 'acceptable for entry' status, along with his team, Iruka, the Sandaime, and the Ichiraku family.

Now within the safety and security of his apartment, which was looking more and more like a laboratory with all of its seals, he kept theory crafting and creating seals, using clones to work on ninjutsu and strategy practice. He would survive Jiraiya's training, even if it was by the skin of his teeth. And he still needed to get that damn seal looked at.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto was much more prepared. The instant that his seals were tripped, Naruto was brought to wakefulness quick enough to dodge the hand that grabbed out at him.

"Good morning, Jiraiya-sama." Said Naruto, looking at the shadow of the hulking man.

"Nice adaptation, gaki. Ready for training?" Naruto shrugged.

"As long as it isn't an excuse for you to beat me up repeatedly, sure." Jiraiya grabbed Naruto's shoulder, and shunshin'd him along once again to the training field.

They were early enough that the sun was only starting to rise in the village, but late enough that the shouts of Gai and Lee could be heard as they ran up the side of the Hokage monument on their hands, with massive containers of chicken eggs being used as an extra weight.

"So, how are you feeling after yesterday's training?" Asked Jiraiya, noting with amusement how sore Naruto seemed.

"I feel a bit like a punching bag, or maybe like one of those training posts." Said Naruto dryly. Jiraiya laughed.

"Well, I suppose we'll only be doing some taijutsu then. Tell me, do you know why the Sannin are so renowned?" Naruto tilted his head.

"Not particularly. I know Orochimaru is a traitor, Tsunade is a medic, and you're a pervert, but I didn't know there was something you were all known for." Jiraiya laughed.

"Well, we were christened by a man named Hanzo of the Salamander, the current leader of Amegakure. But we are all known for our summons: myself with toads, Tsunade with slugs, and Orochimaru with snakes." Naruto's face was blank, then remembered something about the Yondaime.

"Ahh, so that's why the Yondaime was on top of a toad when he fought the Kyuubi." Jiraiya nodded, looking Naruto straight in the eye.

"How would you like to be the next toad summoner? All you have to do is sign this contract in blood." Naruto eyed the newly produced scroll with some trepidation.

"What's the drawback?" Naruto asked, not as naïve as he once was. Jiraiya faltered.

"Well, I suppose the biggest drawback is that you can only sign one or two, and that's assuming the two clans get along." Naruto was looking skeptical.

"I don't think that's the only drawback. What else do we give when we sign our name in blood?" Jiraiya rubbed his chin.

"The toads can also reverse-summon you, but that's a bit of a moot point, considering it's done so rarely." Naruto was feeling on-edge, but this was still the Yondaime's summon, and when would he truly need to be reverse-summoned?

"Can we talk about it later on?" Asked Naruto, the gears in his mind still going. "Also, I don't think I could do something like a summoning, what with this seal." Naruto held up his shirt and gestured to the seal that Orochimaru had placed around his other one. Jiraiya looked at it, once again marveling at the masterpiece of his student.

"You know, I can remove that." Said Jiraiya, who lit up his fingers with chakra. Naruto looked at him.

"If you could, please do. It's hindering my ability to practice for the Third Round. With that, Jiraiya slammed his chakra-infused fingers into the Five Element Seal that Orochimaru had placed. As Naruto skidded across the ground and landed in a heap, he held a hand to his seal.

"Damn, that hurts." He said, but tried the water-walking ability he had started on earlier, and found it was much easier. Jiraiya smiled, but this looked much less malicious.

"How about this, kid? We can practice your taijutsu and sparring on this water, then we can talk some more about what else you'll need for the final round." Naruto, whose mind was thinking much more than it once did, realized that for whatever reason, Jiraiya had been intending to train him seriously. How long had this been in his wheelhouse? Was the meeting at the bathhouse intentional?

"Alright." Said Naruto, as he readied himself in his academy stance. Jiraiya frowned.

"Why don't you use that other stance, the one you used in the match against the Inuzuka?" Naruto had obtained the style from Tenshi, but he claimed he had found it in the library when Kakashi had asked about it. If Jiraiya was showing interest in him, could this be why? Naruto frowned.

"Come on, kid. You aren't in trouble for knowing a taijutsu style, I just want to see it in action." Naruto sighed, and readied up, as Jiraiya flew into action a moment later.

As Jiraiya started off slow and amped up his speed and power until it was at a level Naruto could realistically spar at, he observed the taijutsu style, and found that his initial assessment was spot-on: Naruto's style was extremely similar to Konan's.

"Alright, I've seen enough." Naruto sighed in relief. "Where'd you find it?" Jiraiya watched as Naruto's body language _looked_ calm, and his expression seemed easygoing, but the entire thing was a façade. Naruto was as taut as a bowstring.

"I got it from the library, from their taijutsu section." Jiraiya knew this was a lie, both because he had helped Konan make the style from scratch, and because Naruto's entire delivery screamed 'lie'. Regardless, the kid wouldn't work with him if he was probing into something that was clearly personal, and Konan was long dead. Hanzo had seen to that.

"All good, kid. It just reminded me of someone I used to know, that's all." Naruto relaxed, and Jiraiya asked him to do more taijutsu practice, so he could get used to using chakra constantly while in combat.

Several hours of taijutsu practice later, sensei and student sat down on the edge of the lake, as Jiraiya pulled out a scroll, and unsealed two sandwiches he had purchased the day before. Luckily, storage scrolls preserved food extremely well, and the sandwiches were nearly as fresh as when he bought them.

Sitting down, Naruto asked the toad sage about who Naruto reminded him of. Jiraiya sighed.

"Honestly, you remind me of most of the students I've had so far. You look like Yahiko, fight like Konan, are probably from the same clan as Nagato, and even your haircut reminds me a bit of Minato." These names meant nothing to Naruto except Minato, so he prompted the question of who the other three were.

"They were orphans I met in Amegakure, during the Second Great War. I imagine that if they were still alive, they'd probably be a few years older than Kakashi." Naruto didn't ask how Jiraiya was aware him and Kakashi were acquainted, but filed the information away for later.

"Yahiko was loud, he was brash, and he had big dreams. He didn't like showing weakness, and vowed to either find a god to save Amegakure, or become a god himself. Nagato was mild, he was quiet, and he only wanted to protect his friends. He was a kind boy, and he's the one who helped me finalize my Nindo. He was an Uzumaki too, you know. Probably a distant cousin of some kind, but I don't know much about Uzumaki lineage." This shocked Naruto, but he didn't respond.

"And finally, Konan. She was the glue that held them together, honestly. You don't see many kids with blue hair and orange eyes, and you see even fewer who use sheets of paper as the foundation of their fighting style. She was a sweet kid, but war changes people. If she survived to this day, I'd be shocked beyond belief if she still had that childlike sweetness about her." Naruto, hood up, was frozen. Jiraiya had taught Tenshi, or rather, Konan.

"So I remind you of which one? Konan?" Jiraiya nodded as the name rolled off of Naruto's tongue, the name sounding strange and foreign to Naruto, who had simply thought of his secret sensei as 'Tenshi'.

"Yeah. Your taijutsu style is actually a lot like the one I made with her decades ago – that's why I find it so interesting, if I'm being honest." He was only being partially honest, but Naruto didn't have to know that.

"Huh." Said Naruto. "I wish I could have met them." Naruto truly meant it – he knew Konan, but knew not about her friends, and he wondered if they were still alive. A part of Naruto desperately wished they were, but another part of him felt jealousy, considering he didn't want to compete with people for Konan's attention, even if she wasn't responding to him.

Perhaps, reasoned Naruto, it was akin to a little brother seeking his elder sister's attention, or a prized student desiring his sensei's praise and acceptance. Or, another part of Naruto's brain fathomed, it could be because she was the closest thing to a mother he had.

As their training continued, Naruto asked Jiraiya if he knew how to use Konan's old paper ninjutsu. When Jiraiya replied he had no idea how she had accomplished it, he resolved to figure that out for later.

However, there was one piece of information that kept ringing through Naruto's head for the entire day, and the next day of training, that gave Naruto the link he needed between Ajisai and Konan – Konan was from Amegakure.

* * *

 **The connection revealed! I think asking "What will happen next chapter?" is useless, considering everyone will guess the same thing, so I'll ask instead: What do you expect for the third round of the chunin exams, given the 3-group system similar to the Boruto chunin exams?**

 **Additionally, I had a funny thought: What would you all think about a pure crack fic after the completion of this one, in which Shikamaru's laziness is considered an attractive trait by many of his opponents? Imagine: a world in which Shikamaru is the recipient of attractions he finds far too troublesome, and saves the world. Starring: ExtraTroublesome!Shikamaru, Ino, Kin, Tayuya, and Temari? While I will likely not actually write this, it gave me a laugh. Although to be fair, I also thought "I will likely not actually write this" in reference to a longer fic after the one-shot, so...**

 **Have a good day,**

 **~KoS**


	13. Chapter 13: Konan

**Another chapter for the power of friendship and trying to avoid my responsibilities! Very happy with a few milestones: 10k hits, 40 reviews, 80 favorites, 120 follows, and the document with the story itself is a little more than 60k words. These numbers are small fry in the grand scope of things, but I'm quite happy with the level of support. Special thanks to my friend theriku260, who engaged in a PM with me on the topic of all sorts of things: filler, certain animals, noodles, hentai, and perhaps the hentai part was made up, but the rest is true!**

 **A reminder to give Riku's stories a read-through, especially ANBU Mascot. That one's a comedic work of art.**

 **Anyhow, some review replies:**

 **theriku260: Glad that Shikamaru gets his time in the spotlight, I bet it'll have more than its fair share of _mendokuse_ for him! As for the crack fic... You never know. Once I'm straight-up finished with this one, you never know what I'll do.**

 **Antex: Thanks!**

 **Anyhow, here it is:**

* * *

The next night, Naruto mentally prepared himself for a few possibilities as he walked over to the hotel that Ajisai and her team were staying in.

The first was simple: the person in there wasn't Konan. If this was the case, Naruto could legitimately be in danger, depending on the intentions of the sensei. The second, Konan wasn't Tenshi, despite how insanely low those odds were. The third, Konan was in there, and they didn't truly reconnect, whether due to his own fault or hers.

That third option stung Naruto's heart, because he felt it was a very real possibility. Of course, Naruto was so nervous, he forced his hopes down. Konan – he was still getting used to that name – could be dead, or injured, or be unable to respond to him for another reason. As such, he forced his mind to remain neutral.

He was just meeting Ajisai and her teammates – Suiren and Fuyo, if he remembered correctly, and the person who led this all-kunoichi squad. Nothing more. If anything, Naruto mused, he should prepare himself for the possibility of receiving Teuchi-style questioning, maybe about his intentions towards Ajisai? They were only friends, but considering this request came out of the blue, and he had seen a few comedic movies recently…

He knocked on the door before being allowed in. While Naruto's normal attire wasn't terribly informal, he decided to get a variation of it for tonight, or just for other events where he needed to look a bit nicer – instead of wearing his standard hoodie, his current one had more patterns across the front in the addition to the 'Ten' on the back of it. It was a dark royal blue color, the same as his shinobi pants for the evening, but the hoodie had a number of designs across the front – a rainstorm, some stars, some clouds, and wing-like patterns on the hood itself, where his ears were.

Ajisai answered the door, and Naruto was floored to see that she was much more formal than him – wearing an expensive-looking purple Yukata in a similar color tone to her training garb. Did Naruto miss the memo on clothing for this event?

Ajisai smiled and welcomed him in, and as Naruto looked around to see Fuyo and Suiren, was relieved to see that they were wearing their training garb. It seemed that Ajisai was the only one dressing up. Not that Naruto minded, mind you. One of the unexpected benefits of having good-looking friends of the gender he was attracted to was for events like these, Naruto supposed. The Uzumaki, temporarily distracted by Ajisai, forgot about his thoughts on the way there until the door closed behind him, and he saw her, just as he remembered her a few years ago.

Blue hair. Amber eyes. A flower in her hair. Pierced lip. Black robe with red clouds. Neutral expression. Tenshi-sensei was here.

Naruto's eyes widened, and the moment he had been wondering about occurred, as Tenshi allowed a small smile to appear at Naruto's expression of wonder.

"Hisashiburi dana, Naruto-kun." Naruto wanted to throw his arms around Tenshi and hug her, because damnit he was happy beyond belief. She was alive! She was alive and he was able to see her again! However, Naruto remembered that she was also his sensei, and deserved the most solemn respect he could give her.

"Ohisashiburi desu, Konan-sensei." Konan's eyes widened slightly at Naruto's knowledge of her name, but smiled nonetheless.

"You've grown up from the small boy who played in the rain, Naruto-kun. Why don't you sit down, and I can learn what my students have been up to recently?" Naruto obliged his sensei, sitting right next to Ajisai, who smiled at seeing Naruto in such an altered state.

"So, I was right." Said Ajisai quietly, to Naruto.

"Hm?" Asked Naruto.

"When you and Ichiraku-san were talking about your Tenshi, I figured she might just be Tenshi-sama!" She looked rather pleased with herself for figuring it out. Naruto, for his part, blushed at the fact that the object of his conversation was sitting before him, after being gone for so long. Regardless, Naruto looked as Fuyo and Suiren brought over large dishes. Jumping into action, Naruto helped them, putting dishes down, passing out plates, and doing what he could to assist, considering his sensei and friend were here.

For their part, the Ame team was surprised by Naruto's instinct to help. Were the Elemental nations not the proud, oppressive monstrosities that sought to undermine villages like theirs for their own gain? Only Konan seemed truly unsurprised, and that was because she saw more clearly – within each village were _people_ , good and bad. Ajisai was starting to realize that now too, but she was still learning. Fuyo and Suiren had never started learning before then.

As they all sat down, Naruto fit into their dinner conversation quite easily, and found himself happier than expected with his dinner company. Fuyo had a dry sense of humor, and would throw little remarks and jokes towards Naruto, who made sure to reply appropriately, but even the stoic Suiren was smiling beneath her mask by the end of the conversation. Ajisai sat beside Naruto, remarking when prompted, but mostly remaining to herself. The purple-haired girl thought no one else noticed her slowly getting closer to Naruto over the course of the meal, but Fuyo, Suiren, and Konan all noticed.

Konan, for her part, inquired as to Naruto's state of things, and if he was well-prepared for the final exam. He confided in Konan about finishing most of the seals she had sent him over the years, meeting Jiraiya, fixing his friendship with Tenten, and the offer to learn summoning. Konan paused when Naruto told her about this possibility.

"It will be a good possibility, if you can harness it properly." Naruto was confused.

"If you optimize your circumstances, you can make sure that _you_ are the one calling on the Toad clan, not the toad clan keeping you on a leash for Jiraiya-sensei. What's worth noting is that the elders and sages in that clan respect him, and they can reverse summon you anywhere on the globe. If you are here in Konoha, or somewhere else, Jiraiya can ask them to reverse summon you, and have you delivered to him in a matter of seconds." Naruto frowned, before he whispered to Konan a solution he had in mind to that issue. Hearing it, Naruto could almost see her mind moving at light speeds to figure out the specifics of his idea.

"It should work." Said Konan. "Tomorrow, Ajisai and I will arrive at your apartment after your training, and we will do what we can to help. Ajisai is a fuinjutsu student herself, you know." Naruto looked towards Ajisai, who looked away from him.

"I didn't know that." Said Naruto simply, amazed. Konan laughed.

"It seems that Ajisai neglected to mention it. Still, you and Ajisai plan to train, and you plan to train with this Tenten, yes?" Naruto nodded. Konan approved this for multiple reasons – not only were Tenten and Ajisai both fuinjutsu users and strong kunoichi, their skillsets had variation too – Tenten, from what Konan had seen, was good with weapons, and could help Naruto in his quest to use a suitable one. Ajisai, for her part, was pretty decent with Suiton ninjutsu, and could help Naruto. Naruto, for his part, had a much more balanced skillset, and could help the two girls become better-rounded.

Plus, it seemed that Naruto was becoming more of a gentleman from being in their presence, and everyone seemed happier in recent days. As such, the conversation continued, and eventually Naruto headed back to his apartment. Konan and Ajisai helped Naruto finalize his solution, and the next day, he signed the Gama contract, summoning his first few tadpoles on that same day. It was only later on in training that Naruto and Ajisai would realize they _both_ were learning fuinjutsu in order to emulate Konan's Kamininjutsu.

Over the course of the next three weeks, he would follow a fairly basic schedule: Train with Jiraiya on the five weekdays, working on ninjutsu, taijutsu, and a few other things too. Later, he would go to his apartment and work on seals and experimental ninjutsu, using his Origami Tenshi to relay his progress to Konan.

On weekends, he would have lighter training with Jiraiya, which was allowed when he realized Naruto would be training with girls his own age. Thus, after finishing his shorter training with Jiraiya, he trained with Tenten one day, Ajisai the next. On the final week before the exam, the three of them trained together: the pensive and experimental Naruto, the fiery and extraverted Tenten, and the cool, collected Ajisai.

When Naruto would look back on these days, long in the future, he would remember these as some of the happiest days of his life, when his only concerns were training, and the holes in his heart created by Tenten's missing presence and Konan's absence were filled. The presence of Ajisai invigorated his now healed heart, and between the effects caused by the three women, Naruto's life and emotional state reached its highest point he had reached so far, like a temporary ascent into the Pure World itself.

He didn't have to worry about his barely functional team dynamic, or feel like he wasn't worth as much as Sasuke in Kakashi's eyes. He simply existed, and hoped that he would get promoted alongside his friends, despite knowing that Ajisai would have to head back to Amegakure. The other three had left, but Konan was able to use her Tenshi to communicate with him. Naruto knew from Konan's last few messages he wouldn't be able to contact her as much after the chunin exams because of her business.

The day before the Chunin exams was actually a day of celebration in Amegakure, as Konan watched the rebellion storm in the gap in Amegakure's security created by Pein. Later that night, they celebrated by watching as Pein manipulated the dead body of Hanzo, telling his village that God had triumphed. Stoic and cold, Konan watched with dark pleasure as the murderer of her lover was brought down, but felt a foreboding in her stomach.

She knew that Madara would start moving in earnest soon, with Pein's war settled.

The Jinchuriki would have to be hunted.

And sooner or later, Madara would turn his eyes towards Naruto, for the sake of a new world.

* * *

 **And with that, the reunion of fate has occurred! My question for you, reader: There are three main characters in Naruto's generation; himself, Tenten, and Ajisai. Whose skills do you find the most interesting, in canon or otherwise? Additionally, what has been your favorite spin on Naruto's skills? I'm pretty sure everyone knows that you can find every possible variety of Naruto skillsets on this website. I have my own favorites, but what are yours?**

 **Have a good day**

 **~KoS**


	14. Chapter 14: The Final Round

**Hi friends, KoS here, just letting you all know that in a few weeks, I will revert to the once a week or once every two weeks system of uploading, just to make sure that you all get chapters, and we don't go on too long of a hiatus. I've also been having a lack of motivation for writing up more chapters, and as a result, wrote about 3.5k words of pure, undiluted garbage. As such, I deleted most of it and changed a bit around. I won't be repeating the garbage of pre-fix Ch. 6.**

 **I still have a pretty decent number of chapters in storage waiting to be released, so hopefully it won't have an impact on chapter output, at least until I start approaching the last of them. Anyhow, time to reply to some reviews:**

 **radaklegia: Let's hope she doesn't.**

 **Antex: Yeah - the Narutoverse doesn't have a consistent read on when Hanzo's reign ends. Some sources say during the Uchiha Massacre, some sources say during the Chunin Exams, still others say around the time Naruto leaves Konoha with Jiraiya. It's a bit of a mess tbh :/**

 **Zeikwalt: I recently read a fic where the Nidaime was restored to life and taught Naruto - I wonder if you've read it too? Anyhow, I remember that jutsu well, but the thing about it is that it only existed because the user was an Edo Tensei, and the Edo Tensei body itself is basically just paper.**

 **Guest: This one won't be abandoned :).**

 **SlyUzumakiVii: I think a lot of people have those preferences. I've seen one hell of a lot of kenjutsu Naruto, Fuuton Naruto, and Fuinjutsu Naruto in my time. Glad to meet another reader of theriku! Riku's such a great fella, and I'm pretty sure we've sent ~50ish PMs to each other over the course of the past week. She's one hell of a good writer too.**

* * *

The morning of the final stage of the Chunin exams was bright and warm. Naruto woke up, got himself some food, and got to the stage with a few minutes to spare. As he got there, and time ticked down, Naruto realized that two competitors were missing altogether: Sasuke and Dosu. Frowning, Naruto walked over to Tenten and Ajisai, giving a smile and a small hug to each as Shikamaru watched lazily.

Shikamaru had heard all sorts of rumors from Ino, who seemed to take it upon herself to give all of her gossip to him, considering Sakura was much busier nowadays. According to Ino; Naruto, Tenten, and that Ame genin were in a three-way relationship, and had romantic escapades under the excuse of 'training'. Shikamaru seriously doubted this was the case, considering Tenten's approach to shinobi lifestyle, Naruto's lack of a 'playboy' nature, and the fact that the other Kunoichi was foreign.

Either way, it all sounded horribly troublesome.

"Hello everyone!" Said the proctor, a man with a bandana around his head and a senbon in his mouth.

"We are here to watch the matches for this year's Chunin exam final round, and as such, here are the matches!" The crowd roared in approval.

"Nara Shikamaru versus Temari, followed by Hyuuga Neji versus Uzumaki Naruto! This is Group A!" There was a smattering of applause, but there were whispers when Naruto's name was mentioned.

"Next, in Group B, we have Sabaku no Gaara versus Uchiha Sasuke, and then Tenten versus Kankuro!" The crowd went wild at the sound of the first match, and for good reason – many had bets on this match. It would make or break how much people won or lost for that day.

"Finally, in Group C, we have Ajisai versus Aburame Shino! We have been told that Kinuta Dosu has forfeited in advance, and will not be present." The crowd seemed unhappy at this, but got over it quickly enough.

"Everyone, prepare for our first match!" With that, Shikamaru and Temari got down to the field, and there were a few things notable about this match – Temari's strong tactics and ninjutsu, Shikamaru's unparalleled genius, and his even more unparalleled laziness. Three hours later, as he left the match with the crowd booing and throwing all sorts of things at him, Shikamaru took a nap right beside Shino, who was likely to remain quiet enough for the Nara to take a nap.

Ino, for her part, was now convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Shikamaru was in a secret relationship with this 'Temari', and that he had lost because she was the dominant one in their relationship, in and out of the battlefield.

"Next, we have Hyuuga Neji versus Uzumaki Naruto!" The crowd roared its approval and the two faced each other.

"Well then, Uzumaki, are you ready for fate to crush you?" Naruto formed the seal of confrontation, as the match began. Before long, Neji had charged at Naruto, throwing jabs at the Uzumaki in the light black hoodie. Of course, Naruto responded with smoke, and threw kunai with sensory tags all over the battlefield. This was the first part of his strategy.

What only the Hyuuga in the battlefield and in the audience could see was that the waves of chakra created by the sensory tags were messing with the Byakugan, as Neji couldn't exactly see through the echo-locating waves bouncing from the tags, off of each other, ricocheting all over the place. Sighing, Neji knew he would need to reveal one of his trump cards very early on, in order to dispel the smoke.

In the stands, another figure was in shock.

"What! That's my signature jutsu!" Yelled Amayori no Heiji, Amegakure's representative in the Kage booth. The two Kage shot the representative a look.

"Er, I mean, one of my signature jutsu. I have much more powerful ones, hehe!" Said Heiji, embarrassed.

"Hakkesho: Kaiten!" Yelled Neji, as the swirls of smoke formed a twister around the Hyuuga, but pulled the smoke up into the sky. Naruto sat on the other side of the field, frowning. He was guarded by a platoon of clones.

"Neji." Said Naruto, as the Hyuuga looked him dead in the eye. "What happened to make you like this?" With that, Neji described his life – the cruel enslavement of half of the Hyuuga family, his own branding, and the fact tha this father was used as a sacrifice during Kumo's attempt at taking the Byakugan. By the end, as Neji was describing fate and its ramifications, Naruto sighed. It was a tired, worn out sound.

"I hope one day you'll see that things are different." Said Naruto honestly. With that, Neji charged, breaking through the ranks of the clones as Naruto set up the next phase of his plan. With Neji's byakugan useless due to the still-echoing rings, Naruto appeared within Neji's divination range, and received the Rokujuyonsho. To Neji's shock, it was parried by a Naginata that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Not so fast, Neji." With that, Naruto swung the weapon, and engaged Neji in a fierce close quarters battle. You see, Tenten helped Naruto find a weapon of his own, and determined that the naginata would be most effective for the Uzumaki, given the range and stance that Naruto used for his taijutsu. While his experience with the weapon wasn't sufficient for an extended battle, he was able to slash across Neji's cheek and knock him into a seemingly inconspicuous patch of grass.

Of course, many in Konoha had maybe heard of the naginata once or twice, and thought to themselves "Oh, it's another one of those weapons that isn't a sword or a spear", and they would be right. If people were more often told that the naginata was a long wooden shaft akin to a spear shaft with a curved metal blade at the top, they might recall it more clearly. If they were told it went by other names, such as Guandao, Crescent Moon Blade, or "That one weapon that the big-bearded guy from that one legend uses", it might stick out in one's memory.

Of course, the patch of grass that Neji stood in _was_ inconspicuous, until Naruto formed a half ram seal, and Neji found himself standing within a sealing matrix that bound his movement.

"How… How did you beat my taijutsu? You didn't have that weapon at the beginning of the exam! You learned something that could beat my Hyuuga taijutsu in a month?" Naruto stared down at Neji, coldly, before figuring out his answer.

"What do you consider your teammates, Lee and Tenten?" Neji looked haughtily at Naruto.

"Lee is a failure, someone who keeps trying to climb up the ladder of success, like a dog trying to scramble up a tree. Tenten is the personification of mediocrity – not doomed by fate like myself, but not bolstered by it either." Naruto scowled.

"This weapon is a gift to me given by your teammate, Tenten. Throughout this entire month, I have trained every day, pushing myself and those people who have helped me out, but look at you. Do you truly train to your highest potential when you believe 'fate' will _gift_ you a victory? Do you see this blade, Neji? Do you see any faults in it, any rust?" Neji shook his head.

"That's because its strength hasn't been taken for granted, and it has been taken care of every day. Right now, you're little more than a rusted blade, following the whims of fate like a puppet." Naruto watched as Neji struggled to make words.

"But fate…"

"Fate has no place in the world of shinobi. If you make a mistake, if you become arrogant, if you lose focus, you are liable to be removed from this world in an instant. You became arrogant, you denied the strengths of your teammates, and you have lost." Said Naruto, pointing the naginata blade in between Neji's eyes.

"Well then, finish it. You have won, so I am fated to die here." Naruto and Neji maintained eye contact.

"No." Naruto withdrew his blade, strapped it to his back, and walked away.

"Why not? Why keep me chained to this life of a slave?" Neji roared.

"Because, I want you to be there when the Hyuuga are changed. I want you to be one of the first branch members who cry out and celebrate when your clan's system comes crumbling to the ground." Neji thought about this long and hard.

"Do you swear that it will happen, Uzumaki?" Naruto nodded, and gave Neji a kind smile.

"How about I make this oath before all of these witnesses here today. I, Uzumaki Naruto, will free your clan from this cruel seal before my death." Naruto slashed open one of his palms, and let the blood flow onto the ground, mixing with the blood from Neji's wound.

"Consider this blood as a part of my solemn oath, Neji." And Naruto meant it. He came into this match hating Neji, for what he did to Hinata, but left wondering who the real villain was. Was it the Hyuuga themselves? Was it their ancestors who made the seal in a time of war and uncertainty?

Naruto had no answer, but as Neji forfeited, and was brought to the hospital due to the cutting off of chakra circulation caused by Naruto's seal, the Uzumaki swore he would make an end to the cycle, one way or another.

Up in the stands, Hiruzen nodded in approval. Perhaps he still had a long way to go, but Naruto had already started thinking like a Kage. He wrote a comment for the Uzumaki's chunin exam report, and watched as Group C's fights started.

Seeing as Sasuke was absent, the proctor and judges had a fairly simple plan – give Naruto and Temari time to rest, and have Group C start. That way, once Ajisai and Kankuro faced off, Naruto and Temari could determine the winner of Group A. Hopefully, Sasuke would be back, otherwise he would lose by forfeit.

Naruto frowned as this announcement was made, and walked over to where Tenten was. She congratulated him on his good match and thanked him for his promise to help Neji. Naruto gave her a soft smile before turning to Ajisai, who had joined them before walking down.

"Smash that puppet boy, Aji-chan." Said Naruto. One of the developments of spending much more time with Ajisai and Tenten was his creation of nicknames for them. Aji-chan and Ten-chan, as he called them now, were at first more flustered, but took the names in stride after getting used to them. While Naruto felt that there was some tension between the two girls, he wasn't sure as to the exact reasoning, and he sure as hell wasn't about to ask.

Ajisai thanked Naruto for his words of encouragement and walked down the stairs to her match. As she stood opposite Kankuro, she saw the boy look at his own sensei before turning to the proctor.

"I forfeit." Ajisai maintained her stoic expression, but was not happy. For the second time in this kami-forsaken tournament, her opponent had forfeited before she could show her skills.

Naruto frowned, as did Temari. It seemed that neither fighter would have time to recuperate themselves. As the two blondes walked down, Naruto gave Temari the seal of confrontation as he held his naginata in his hand, butt of the staff in the ground.

"You won't be able to use that smoke trick against my Fuuton ninjutsu, brat." Said Temari with a grin.

"Hajime!" Said Genma, as Naruto held his position – not moving, and for a second, Temari hesitated. That was all she had time for, as Naruto slapped another seal to himself – a Speed seal. Suddenly, Naruto vanished, and Temari felt a flurry of blows make contact with her body.

Blinking, Temari saw Naruto take off the seal, cursing its inconsistency. Next, he charged at her as she threw her fan into motion, slashing at Naruto with waves upon waves of wind. The Uzumaki narrowed his eyes, before putting chakra into his feet and moving forward.

Step by step, Naruto walked _through_ the storm Temari made. Temari's eyes widened, as she saw the blonde's dark hoodie ripping, and… was that armor inside of it?

Further up the stands, Orochimaru watched from inside the Kazekage costume as Naruto worked his way through the storm, one step at a time, giving up no ground.

"Ah, it seems he's applying chakra to his feet, so my daughter's wind can't blow him back." Internally, he was impressed. Strategies like this were rarely seen in genin, and seeing as he was legitimately reviewing candidates before the invasion, it wouldn't hurt to mark Naruto as a good chunin candidate…

On the battlefield, no thoughts except full focus on his match occupied Naruto, as he kept his eyes closed, using sensory tags to detect Temari and her chakra. Every couple seconds, he moved his feet forward, one at a time. Left foot forward. Apply chakra. Right foot forward. Apply chakra. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot.

Before long, Temari was using her highest power wind, and was considering summoning Kamatari if he moved forward. Then, she saw him raise an arm out, and reach into his jacket, attaching another seal. Suddenly, Naruto was moving through the wind much faster, and when Temari took a second to take a breath and send another wave of winds his way, Naruto dashed forward, slashing at her with his blade.

As the blade descended, Temari substituted herself with a log, but that only bought her half a second's respite – this speed seal, for whatever reason, was nowhere near as faulty as the previous one.

"Surrender." Said Naruto, as Temari felt the blade against her neck before she saw the blonde with calm eyes before her. She hadn't even had enough time to raise her fan to block the blade!

"How did you push through my wind?" Naruto gave her an expression of utter stoicism.

"I will not lose before I get to the final round. Surrender, Temari-san. I'd rather not send you to our allies in a body bag." Temari gulped and did just that, forfeiting.

"Alright!" Said Genma. "Victor of Group A: Uzumaki Naruto! Along with Ajisai, Naruto will be one of the competitors in the final round. Now, we await Hokage-sama's decision regarding Uchiha Sasuke's missing presence." Naruto looked up at the Kage booth, and shunshin'd up to the box. Upon seeing Naruto walking up, multiple shinobi barred their way, but the Hokage waved them aside.

"Naruto-kun, what is it?" Naruto bowed his head and kneeled before his Kage, something he wouldn't do if he weren't also in front of the Kazekage.

"Hokage-sama, can you please grant Sasuke another few minutes? If Tenten is allowed to face off against Shino, there's a chance that he will arrive. You know how Kakashi-sensei was working with him before." Naruto, who had applied a sensory tag to himself at one point, then looked scrutinizingly at the Kazekage and his guards, before his eyes widened.

"Hokage-sama, something is very wrong here." Hiruzen's eyes widened, before he followed Naruto's gaze.

"What is it? This is the Kazekage." Naruto shook his head.

"No, that's Orochimaru! And each one of those guards is really two different people, one hiding on top of the other!" Sarutobi's eyes widened, as pandemonium broke loose.

This was not the signal that Kabuto had prepared for, so as he cast his genjutsu, many shinobi dispelled it instantly and were on the alert. As word began to spread through the village, more shinobi came to the arena, to see Naruto and the Sandaime now on top of a roof, staring down Orochimaru.

"Baki-sensei!" Said Temari, looking in shock as Orochimaru stepped outside of the Kazekage outfit.

"I know, Temari." Said her sensei curtly, before amplifying his voice. "Sunagakure forces, stand down! Look, Orochimaru was impersonating our Kazekage! Avenge Rasa-sama!" With that, all of the Sunagakure forces, rather than invading Konoha, assisted in the slaughter of Otogakure invaders who appeared moments later, bringing great snakes and siege weapons to break down Konoha's walls. The weapons and snakes were met with massive toads, courtesy of Myobokuzan and the legendary toad summoner, Jiraiya.

As all of the other Suna shinobi were helping their newly reinstated allies, Gaara was unhappy. Before long, he came across a dumpy-looking Ame-nin with an underwater breather. As Gaara looked at him, he recognized him as the frightened-looking Amegakure representative. Hopefully Gaara wouldn't feel too much disgust as he proved his existence on this one...

* * *

 **And the battle begins! Naruto and Sarutobi versus Orochimaru!**

 **Here is my next question for you: based on what we know about Sarutobi, Orochimaru, and Naruto, will Sarutobi survive this battle? I'm not asking as much for preference if he lives or dies (that's already been decided), but more of what you think is likely. Let me know!**

 **Once again, I have a few fics to recommend. theriku260 is a fantastic author, and I have two fics of hers to recommend.**

 **First is "ANBU's Mascot", a cracky fic that will knock your socks off, and my laughs have only gotten more intense every time I read a new chapter.**

 **Next is "From Academy to ANBU", a more serious ANBU Naruto fic. Seriously, this second story of his is KILLING IT. In just four chapters and one week of being released, it's got 43 reviews, 71 favs, and 97 follows.**

 **My last recommended fic for now is "Konoha's Weasel Prince", by Yuna Yami Mouto. It's a well-written, extremely thoughtful Itachi-centric time travel fic. It ties together so many different aspects of good fanfiction: well-written characters & dialogue, interesting plot, and so, so much more.**

 **Anyhow, that's all for now. This _should_ be posted by 8/8 sometime in the morning (It's currently 8/7, nearly midnight at the time of writing the A/Ns). The next update (Ch. 15) should come out around 8/11 or 8/12. I'll figure out more of what to do later on.**

 **8/8 UPDATE: Sorry Riku, changed a few things around to fix the little discrepancy I may or may not have inadvertently caused. My bad...**

 **~KoS**


	15. Chapter 15: The Konoha Crush!

**Happy Saturday, everyone! Here is the newest chapter. Before we get into the battles, let me respond to some reviews.**

 **theriku260: The power of surprise! Tbh I prefer surprise to plot armor, so I'd be down for some wild surprises.**

 **Antex: Thanks! Glad you found joy in it.**

 **SlyUzumakiVii: Riku's work has been pretty killer, I agree. Luckily, I mean that more in the metaphorical sense - I'd be extremely sad if high-quality fanfiction played a direct role in my demise.**

 **DanielHimura: Well, this isn't exactly an OP Godlike Naruto, so... make of that what you will.**

 **Past few days have been interesting. Done some work well, some work not as well, and had some chances to see old friends before things get really busy again. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer season as much as they can, whether you have to go back to school, college, or just Monday mornings that don't have summer weather to act as a cushion.**

 **With my rambling over, I present this chapter to you all!**

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Inside the barrier formed by Orochimaru's bodyguards, the man himself watched as Naruto put himself between the old man and his old student.

"You won't get to Jiji while I'm still alive, you slimy scumbag!" Orochimaru laughed.

"There's no way that you can say anything, little Uzumaki boy? Tell me, what do you really now?" Naruto snorted, as Hiruzen watched.

"I did research on you after I started studying with the pervert. You and your Otogakure shinobi think you can take us down? You're just a slimy old man who was denied the Hokage position and threw a temper tantrum." Orochimaru's expression was sour and menacing. "Look around, even Sunagakure shinobi realize you're a piece of dung that someone left out to dry – they are helping us now. Jiraiya's toads are shredding your snakes, and you can't even pull off an ambush properly." With that, Orochimaru's fury was unlike any other, and he charged at Naruto, slashing with Kusanagi.

Of course, he couldn't get much further than that slash – Orochimaru found himself blocked by Sarutobi's chief summon, Enma. Enma, a great monkey sage who could transform himself at will, was Sarutobi's partner of over half a century.

"Your opponent is me, Orochimaru. Naruto-kun, stand back. You're starting to speak like a Kage, but you aren't quite there yet. Why don't you sit back and watch a Kage-level battle?" Naruto stood on guard with his Naginata, not responding, but respecting Sarutobi's wish to fight his old student.

As Naruto watched, he marveled at what he was seeing – ninjutsu thrown around like candy, clones upon clones upon clones of substitution and deception. As Naruto watched, he realized that neither shinobi had even injured the other, and their jutsu were both strong and controlled – not the wild battle style that Naruto had seen when he fought against Tenten and Ajisai, not the weaker but more controlled style he used against Temari and Neji, nor was it the strange, turn-by-turn style of battle he had fought against Zabuza.

This was the strength of two shinobi who were decades ahead of him, and knew each other well enough.

Naruto could see Sarutobi slowly getting the upper hand, before three coffins showed up, one of them crumbling before it could be opened.

"Odd. I'll have to check that one out later, I suppose." Said Orochimaru, as the other two coffins opened up.

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw Hashirama and Tobirama Senju, the first and second Hokage, walking out of the coffins, before Orochimaru stuck a kunai in each of their heads. Naruto looked as their skin, cracked and dead-looking, became more lifelike as the brothers opened their eyes, with black sclera and odd, jerky movements.

"Saru…" Said Tobirama as he walked forward.

"And who's this?" Asked Hashirama, who smiled at Naruto.

"He is one of Mito's successors, Hashirama-sama." Said Hiruzen solemnly. Orochimaru sighed before forming a hand seal, and the two former Kage charged at Sarutobi.

Tobirama drew a Raiton blade, before it was blocked by Sarutobi. As Hashirama approached Sarutobi with Mokuton tree roots, he found them slashed through by Naruto's naginata, the Uzumaki himself now facing the Shodai Hokage.

"Sorry, Shodai-sama. You won't be getting to Jiji on my watch." As the Shodai Hokage laughed, he explained a couple things to Naruto.

"I appreciate it, young Kyuubi holder. I'm not in control of my actions, unfortunately." With that, he charged at Naruto again, who found himself being overpowered by the strength of the Shodai.

Managing to disengage himself for a few seconds, Naruto was relieved that the Shodai seemed to consider Naruto as his primary opponent, and not the Sandaime, who was locked in battle with his sensei.

As Naruto fought against the Shodai, he felt something strange within him – nostalgia? Familiarity? Where did these brief flares of emotion come from? The nostalgia felt strange, mystic, and mysterious…

"What is your name?" Asked the Shodai kindly, as Naruto was forced to parry another strike.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, Shodai-sama. How can we stop this jutsu?" The Shodai looked at Orochimaru briefly.

"That summoner has to release us back to the Pure Land, or we have to be sealed away. We can't die normally, Uzumaki-kun." Naruto blinked, before frowning. The two continued fighting. Luckily for Naruto, the monstrous power of Hashirama Senju was impossible to control at full strength, or even half strength. Thus, Naruto could keep up with the man's reactions, considering he was known more for his strength rather than his speed.

"My apologies, Shodai-sama. I don't know any seals." Hashirama frowned.

"An Uzumaki in Konoha… What happened to Uzushiogakure, little Uzumaki?" Naruto frowned right back.

"I don't know what that is, Shodai-sama." Hashirama's expression became pensive as he summoned roots onto the building, before Naruto's explosive tags met with them.

"When I was alive, it was the home of the Uzumaki clan. Has something happened to it?" Naruto was confused, but responded.

"I've lived in Konoha my entire life, sir. I never met my parents, and have never heard of another Uzumaki in my life." Hashirama was understandably distraught.

"Then the village of my wife's birth is likely no longer with us." Naruto bowed his head in mourning, before the two continued fighting.

"Naruto, keep in mind that I have infinite chakra. You will eventually run out!" Said Hashirama. Naruto grinned.

"I have the Kyuubi inside of me, Shodai-sama. I won't run out of energy easily!" Hashirama laughed, a full and genuine laugh, and Naruto was reminded of how long ago the Shodai lived – by this point, his children were dead, as were most of his grandchildren. In fact, only the Sandaime's generation knew him personally, and that was very briefly.

As Naruto and Hashirama continued fighting, Naruto was pushed back, at least until the battle came to an abrupt end – the Sandaime's Kage Bunshin grabbed onto him, and Naruto saw the Nidaime was in a similar bind.

"Shiki Fuujin!" Yelled Sarutobi, as Naruto saw his grandfather figure yank the souls of his predecessors into himself, and then suck the soul-arms out of Orochimaru. Transfixed, Naruto wondered what this seal did, before Sarutobi collapsed, his ritual stance removed from his figure like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

As Orochimaru leapt away with his guards, Naruto ran to his adoptive Jiji, holding the old man's head on Naruto's knee.

"Jiji." Said Naruto, looking at Sarutobi.

"You've done well, Naruto-kun. Please, protect the will of fire…" Said the Sandaime, as his eyes closed and his soul was taken by the Shinigami. Oddly enough, Naruto could see the outline of it before it dissipated, and stabbed his naginata into the belly of the beast, only to see it go right through.

"Shinigami…" Whispered Naruto, as he understood just where his Jiji had gone. The death god looked at Naruto, leaving quickly with a wicked smile.

A few seconds later, the ANBU squad that had been watching the battle go on found themselves smashed to the sides of the building by sand. While Naruto and Sarutobi had fought against the undead, they had fought against a sandy monster. Sabaku no Gaara had arrived, and it seemed that Heiji's blood was not enough to satisfy the bloodlusting Jinchuriki.

* * *

Naruto looked at Gaara, and both Jinchuriki allowed their fury to take over – Naruto in grief, Gaara in lust.

With that, they moved, as Gaara's face became more and more covered in Shukaku's sand, with a tail emerging, Naruto created a number of Kage Bunshin, as they slashed through the sand that Gaara summoned. Naruto himself managed to get behind Gaara, and slashed the boy's tail off.

Gaara howled in anger, as he was covered in sand, and the grand Tanuki himself emerged within Konoha's walls, standing on the buildings.

Across the village, Konoha and Suna nin looked in horror at the Bijuu. Both villages had bad memories brought up – Konoha remembered the night their Yondaime died, and Suna remembered the rampages their own Yondaime, now deceased, had to suppress.

To Suna-nin, their terror was evermore increased when Gaara uttered words that promised true carnage: "Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu."

Naruto, still enraged, started running through hand seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" And Konoha-nin's hearts stopped, as they saw the battle from years ago remade – Bijuu versus Gamabunta, with a blonde riding the back of the great toad.

"Bunta-sama, mind giving me a hand?" Bunta looked at the beast before him, before nodding.

"Kid, see how that red-haired brat is sticking out of the sand? I bet if you separate him from the sand, the Bijuu won't form all the way." Naruto nodded, and Bunta leapt into action, slashing at Shukaku while Naruto jumped onto the beast's arm. Shukaku's sand reacted to Naruto's presence, and tried to assemble itself onto Naruto's position.

Naruto, seeing this, threw dozens upon dozens of Paper Bombs into the beast, and the tags, infused with the powerful chakra of Naruto, exploded ferociously, leaving craters and scars of war across Shukaku's arms. Howling in pain, the beast knocked off Bunta, who dispelled to avoid crashing into Konoha proper.

Naruto continued running up the arms of Shukaku, as all shinobi watching the battle were transfixed – ally and enemy of Konoha, they watched as the small genin jumped from part to part of Shukaku, before jumping onto the top of the beast itself, and dragging his naginata across the beast's eyes.

Now blinded and angry, Shukaku was unable to detect Naruto as he ran across the beast's head, and smashed into Gaara, knocking the redhead off of the beast.

As the two tumbled to the ground, Naruto walked up to Gaara, who was weak and near unconsciousness.

"You… You beat me…" Said the Yondaime Kazekage's youngest son, eyeing Naruto.

"Yeah, I did." Gaara looked at Naruto.

"So, you are going to kill me?" Naruto paused, before tilting his head. Should he kill Naruto?

"I don't think so." Said Naruto thoughtfully.

"Why not? Your eyes are like mine! You contain a demon, just like me! You contain a beast, just like mother!" Naruto shook his head.

"No, my eyes aren't like yours anymore. I found something that will always make me more powerful than my beast." Naruto said, unaware of the shinobi watching the scene. By this point, Oto was defeated, and with Orochimaru and Kabuto retreating, the allied forces of Konoha and Suna watched as Naruto talked with their jinchuriki.

"What is it, Uzumaki Naruto?" Naruto kneeled down next to Gaara, and gave the boy a hand, which Gaara accepted.

"I found people who accept me, who care about me." Gaara's eyes looked hollow.

"But how could I get something like that…" As Naruto allowed Gaara to think, he saw as a young figure ran towards him – Konohamaru.

The boy latched onto Naruto, and hugged him tightly, congratulating him on the coolest win he'd ever seen.

"Your actions." Said Naruto. "Your actions are the only thing that will determine who you really are. I promise that one day, your village will see it. If they don't, someone will, and they'll fill the hole in your heart, just like my friends and precious nakama did for me." As Gaara watched Naruto and the young boy attached to him, he wondered.

"Uzumaki…" Said Gaara. Naruto turned towards him.

"Would you be my friend? My first friend?" Naruto smiled, and placed a hand on Gaara's shoulder.

"Of course." A second or two later, two Suna shinobi jumped onto the battlefield, in between Gaara and Naruto: Kankuro and Temari had arrived.

"Stay away from our little brother!" Said Temari, more fiercely than she felt. A Konoha shinobi pointed at her.

"Why should we, you Suna dog! You guys only helped us out because Orochimaru was imitating your Kage. If Naruto didn't expose it, would you have betrayed us too?" Temari's eyes became somber, and she turned towards Naruto, a pleading expression on her face.

"Please, let us go home and tend to our dead. I swear that we were deceived." Naruto nodded, the gravity of the situation becoming clear. He gave them a dismissive gesture, but not before giving one final sentence to Gaara.

"Gaara, I hope we can meet again once you find those people. Perhaps by that time, you might even be stronger than me." Gaara closed his eyes, exhausted, as his sister carried him back to Suna.

"Why did you let him go, brat? And also, where is the Sandaime? You were the last one seen with him. If anything's happened to Sandaime-sama…" Asked the Konoha shinobi, as he turned on Naruto. The other spectators, including Kakashi, Gai, and Ajisai, looked at him. Naruto turned to the shinobi, blinking tears out of his eyes, but unable to stop the cracking of his voice.

"I let them go because their village isn't the only one that has to mourn its Kage." Unable to hold his tears back, Naruto covered the upper half of his face with one of his hands, as the crowd saw tears come from beneath his hand, as he wrapped his arm around the Honorable Grandson ever tighter.

While one Jinchuriki mourned, the other found himself pondering Naruto's thoughts, before deciding to take action.

"Temari, Kankuro…" Murmured Gaara, as his siblings' attention came to him.

"What is it, Gaara?" Asked Kankuro.

"I'm… I'm sorry." The two 'sane' siblings of the Suna Kyodai's eyes widened, and they exchanged a shocked glance, before Kankuro took up the initiative, patting his brother's shoulder.

"No worries, Gaara. You've had a long day, make sure you rest up." To his own surprise, Gaara felt a slight prickling in his eyes, as he felt two strange sensations – liquid streaming from his still-closed eyes, and a painful clenching feeling in his heart, still filling him with warmth.

* * *

 **And with that, the battle is done. Personally, I found Gaara's battle with Naruto to be one of the most powerful in canon, and hope that my rendition does the emotional impact some level of justice. It isn't quite Pein vs Jiraiya or Pein vs Naruto levels of feels, but it still gets me.**

 **A question for you all: We see a couple new pieces of information that will be developed more across the context of the story. As such, here are my questions: What do you think the significance of Naruto's nostalgia is? What do you think Naruto will try to do, based on his reaction to the end of Hiruzen vs. Orochimaru?**

 **I look forward to seeing what you all have to say.**

 **~KoS**


	16. Chapter 16: Sadness and Guilt

**Hi all, here is an announcement for all of you readers: I return to college quite soon, and I know that the combination of my classes, studying, and spending time with people will greatly reduce the amount of time I can spend writing for this story. BUT, do not fear - remember how I always talk about that document with my story on it? It's currently got a few chapters in reserve, to be uploaded either once a week or once every two weeks. Once I can get back in town for breaks, I'll be off to the races, working hard and doing what I can to continue writing chapters at a decent level.**

 **With that off of my chest, here are my replies:**

 **Antex: Smart man, Antex! Very good predictions.**

 **TubfullofDishes345: Thanks! My strengths as a writer typically lie in emotions & dialogue anyway - my fight scenes are straight-up garbage.**

 **f: Basically, anyone who views this chapter counts as a visit and a view, but if you refresh, or come back to this chapter again, you will still only count as one visit, but multiple views. Based on what the site says, I think it likely includes traffic from the app, but I could be wrong. Also, if you think Gaara is cute, I recommend watching the Naruto spin-off - Gaara is fantastic in that show.**

 **Here is the next chapter. Reminder, Ch. 17 should be out somewhere around Friday/Saturday/Sunday (8/24-8/26). Enjoy the read!**

* * *

The next few days blurred into a constant dark grey color for Naruto. Summoning Gamabunta, and utilizing the Kyuubi's chakra to do so left him in an exhausted state, in addition to the minor wounds incurred from his chunin exam matches and battle with the Shodai left him in a weakened state, and Naruto found himself admitted into the hospital.

Something that would have made Naruto much happier if the circumstances weren't so miserable for the Jinchuriki was the newfound respect and neutrality that the hospital staff showed him. Naruto had even received a few visitors.

Some of his friends and acquaintances visited once or twice – Sakura on the first day, along with Sasuke. Apparently, the Hatake and Uchiha had arrived right as the invasion broke out, and they had cut their way through battalions of Oto-nin into Konoha before assisting in its defense. Later, Shikamaru and Choji visited him, and Naruto even received a surprise visit from Neji, who paused in the doorway before bowing low before the Uzumaki and thanking him for opening his eyes. Naruto could only give a fake smile and nod, not trusting his voice. Asuma Sarutobi visited too, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder, and told him that the Sandaime had been proud of him, and had no doubt seen from wherever he was, as Naruto saved the village in the same way the Yondaime Hokage had.

Oddly enough, Gai had visited him once, and he didn't sprout too much about youth. He thanked Naruto for helping the Sandaime in his final hour, and for giving Tenten such happiness during their month of training.

Jiraiya had also visited him, but only to tell him the time and place for the Sandaime's funeral. He didn't stay for long, but Naruto didn't press the man – he had lost his sensei and Hokage in the battle.

Kakashi, Iruka, and the Ichiraku's visited Naruto twice. The lattermost didn't stay for terribly long, but Ayame gave Naruto a long hug, as Teuchi kept a hand on the boy's shoulder. They didn't say anything, but their message was clear: _We love you, we are proud of you, and we miss him too_.

Of his various sensei, Iruka had to be the most social of the bunch. He asked Naruto questions, and actively tried to keep his mind _off_ of his immense grief, doing what he could to keep Naruto's spirits high. Kakashi stayed for a long time, reading his book, but only said one sentence – "Well done." While Naruto primarily sat idle during Kakashi's visit, the presence of his sensei and the words of high praise comforted him.

His most frequent visitors were the two close friends he had made over the month of training. Ajisai, after she assisted Konoha by slaying an Oto-nin or two, was allowed to stay long enough for her wounds to patch up. She was scheduled to return to Amegakure a little bit after the Sandaime's funeral.

While there was tension between Tenten and Ajisai that Naruto knew next to nothing about (though he suspected it might be related to the forest incident), they seemed to put it aside to be in solidarity with the Uzumaki. For hours over the course of multiple days, he would sit there with one, the other, or both, showing a weaker side of himself that he would normally never show.

Naruto never shed tears in front of his team, his friends, or his comrades. He was like a soulless husk, only giving facial expressions and showing his emotions through physical actions. With Tenten and Ajisai, he allowed them to embrace him, and replied the gesture for long periods of time, while he shook and shivered.

Naruto hadn't heard anything from Konohamaru, but knew the boy had now lost one of his two surviving immediate relatives, and despite his dislike of being in his grandfather's shadow, Naruto knew that Sarutobi's bond with his blood-grandson was just as great, if not greater than Naruto's.

Not too long after going into the hospital, the Sandaime's funeral took place. Naruto snuck out of the window of his room, wearing the black clothes of mourning. At the funeral, Konohamaru clung to Naruto and Asuma like a lifeline, crying and shaking worse than Naruto.

At the funeral itself, Naruto did much the same as the other mourners – placing his flower into the tomb, before it was sealed, and placed with the other Hokage. Slowly, as the funeral ended, he turned away, and started to walk back to the hospital room. He was still recovering, and he would rather not squander the brownie points he had earned through saving the village.

As Naruto left, many of those who knew him watched as he left. Naruto was close to the old Hokage, and he had no family by blood. Among those who watched him closely was Sasuke, who wondered how Naruto would react to losing his last family member. Additionally, Sasuke wanted to see where the power of Naruto came from – where did this dead-last gain the strength necessary to take down Gaara, a being whose strength not even the Chidori could take down suitably?

Naruto walked back through the halls to his hospital room, but paused upon reading the name of the room next to his: Rock Lee. Naruto felt a great sadness as he thought about the optimistic genin who cared so much for others, yet could seemingly receive no care himself. Knocking, Naruto was told he could enter by the inhabitant.

"Long time no see, Naruto-kun! What brings you to my humble room of healing?" Asked Lee, youthful gleam about him.

"I'm not sure. I guess I was wondering how you were holding up." In reality, Naruto could tell things weren't good – wounds that persisted over a month were never good signs.

"I am doing well, Naruto-kun! Soon, I will return to the fields of battle and fulfill Gai-sensei's hope for passing on his YOUTH!" Naruto smiled kindly at Lee. He honestly hoped that the boy recovered, and wished him the best of luck in his recovery. As Naruto walked to his room, he felt slightly better.

Although, it was a bit of a strange trend to have so many people who were zealously dedicated to their sensei – him, Haku, Lee, and Ajisai seemed to have this whole filial piety, or was it sensei piety at this point? Thing down. As Naruto walked into his room and laid beneath the covers, he waited for the opportune moment to make his next move.

Several hours later, Naruto snuck out of his hospital room again, donning dark, nondescript shinobi clothing, making his way to the Sandaime's tomb. As he arrived at the tomb itself, reading 'Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage' on it, Naruto felt his emotional barriers that he had so carefully assembled breaking down.

Weeping and kowtowing before the tomb, Naruto was every bit the inconsolable grandson as Konohamaru. He remained there for a long time, ignoring the pain in his knees from maintaining the kowtow as he paid respects to the man who had cared for the orphans, who had given Naruto his own apartment, who had encouraged the blonde when no one else did, and who saved the village.

"Jiji…" Croaked Naruto, eyes meeting the name on the tomb as his fists clenched, drawing blood. Eyeing it, Naruto made an oath to his grandfather in all but blood: "I'll get you out of the Shinigami, Jiji. I'll let you go somewhere where you can get the retirement you deserve, and keep watching over this place."

Naruto stayed there for over an hour, his knees wobbling from being in the kowtow so long, and pools of tears beneath his head. Naruto knew that the odds of getting his Jiji out of the Shinigami were low, but he knew nothing would make him feel more guilty than reliving his Jiji's last battle, where the young Uzumaki had been able to do nothing to stop Orochimaru – he hadn't sliced the man while he was focused on summoning the coffins, and he hadn't just killed Orochimaru before the battle even began.

Of course, Naruto knew that the idea of somehow killing Orochimaru was foolish – he fought against him and Sasuke one versus two, but Naruto kept searching for something he could think of, some way he could have saved his Jiji.

After finishing deluding himself with visions of success and undoing his failure, Naruto's grief intensified as he begged for forgiveness – forgiveness for not saving him, forgiveness for being such a brat when he was younger, forgiveness for not telling his Jiji how much he meant to Naruto. Eventually, Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder, and found himself pulled up.

"Come on, Naruto-kun. Let's get you back to your hospital room." Recognizing Tenten's voice, Naruto nodded, before another figure appeared at the graveyard's gate, and Naruto found himself being half-dragged to his hospital room by his two closest friends.

* * *

Several days after visiting Jiji's grave, Naruto hadn't left his bed except to shower. His recovery was definitely fast, but his mental state wasn't helping his recovery at all – Naruto seemed to only be responsive to Tenten and Ajisai, but that was before Jiraiya hopped to the window of Naruto's room.

"I see you aren't doing much better than I am, Naruto." Naruto turned towards Jiraiya, who looked troubled.

"I wish I could have done something." Jiraiya nodded, before gently jumping into the room itself.

"I understand, kid. Truth be told, I wish I could have done something too." Naruto grunted, his face still dull and tired-looking.

"What brings you here, Jiraiya-sensei?" Jiraiya saw Naruto's face and sighed.

"Two things, actually. Firstly, we need to find my old teammate, Tsunade. There are a few reasons we need her in the village again, but the biggest one is that there are so many wounded shinobi, including your friend Lee." Naruto's eyes gained some glimmer – perhaps he wanted to save Lee? Jiraiya pressed forward with the other reason.

"I also want to take you to the Fire Temple for a day or so." Naruto looked confused, and Jiraiya gestured to Naruto's body.

"Look at yourself, Naruto. There's a time and place to grieve, and it's passed. You need to get up and move on, Sarutobi-sensei wouldn't have wanted to see you stay here this long." Naruto frowned.

"I spoke with Sarutobi-sensei about you once or twice, you know. He always described your tenacity, your unflinching resolve. He'd want to see it come back, and come back stronger than it's ever been. Plus," Jiraiya's expression grew lecherous, "one of your girlfriends is set to leave the village later today, and I think the gentlemanly thing would be to give her a kiss before she heads out." Naruto scowled at Jiraiya, but stood up nonetheless. If Ajisai truly was leaving, he should see her off.

"When do we get your teammate?" Jiraiya's expression grew happier at the sight of Naruto moving again.

"I figured I'd give you a day to pack up. We leave tomorrow morning, head to the Fire Temple, and see if we can work out your grief issues. Once we do that, we'll get Tsunade." Naruto nodded, before jumping out of the window, followed by Jiraiya.

"Alright. I'm going to see Ajisai off soon." Jiraiya looked at Naruto, who was looking at him now. "Do you think a bracelet makes for a good gift?" Jiraiya gave Naruto a disappointed expression.

"Well, I suppose you're a bit young to give her lingerie and roses. Tell me about the bracelet, kid." Naruto gave a description, and added a couple more floating thoughts to the equation. By the end, Jiraiya's grin was positively demonic. For his part, Naruto was glad that Jiraiya hadn't pushed on the sexual ideas for gifts – Naruto was still desperately trying to recover from The Talk, which Konan had administered to him and Ajisai.

This was much to the amusement of Fuyo, whose perverted side was simultaneously quite funny, yet she seemed disappointed that Ajisai had a boyfriend before her. Naruto, too uncomfortable to even phrase the fact that he and Ajisai were friends at best, didn't answer. For her part, Ajisai didn't respond either.

"Do it, kid. Go and be free." With that, Naruto vanished and walked into the appropriate store, surprised to find the neutrality that he had been offered in the hospital wasn't just for there – it was all over the village. Villagers simply ignored him, rather than glaring and stopping their conversations to make a swath of silence around Naruto.

It was later on that Naruto knocked on Ajisai's hotel room, and the girl answered with a smile.

"It's good to see you, Naruto-san. My wounds are all healed, so I need to return to Amegakure. Apparently, Ame's representative died in the invasion, somehow…" Ajisai wasn't displeased in the slightest – another Hanzo supporter down the drain! Naruto smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, I heard about that. I wanted to give you something before you left." The purple-haired girl looked at Naruto, and received a small package.

"Open it up, please." Said Naruto, looking down at it. Letting Naruto into her room and obliging, Ajisai opened the package with trepidation – the last time she had received gifts was back when her parents were still alive, back before she had found herself in the warzone, fighting alongside Tenshi and the others who pursued Pein-sama's liberation of Amegakure.

Opening the box within the wrapping, Ajisai's eyes widened – she was looking at a steel bracelet with a large blue gemstone in the center of it. What kind of a gift was this? Did Naruto think of her like…?

"The gem itself has a built-in tracking seal. If you channel chakra into the _gem_ , I'll know you're in danger, and will do whatever I can to protect you. Once you check out the fuinjutsu on it, it should become clearer. If you channel chakra into the _bracelet_ itself, you'll be pointed towards me no matter where I am. I wanted you to have something to remember me by, 'cause I don't know when we'll be able to see each other next." There was a clear sadness in Naruto's voice at the last part of the sentence, and Ajisai's blush, which had appeared as a faint pinkening of the cheeks, grew more profound.

Of course, this was more because Ajisai had lived for so long as a follower, someone who was never the object of attention. For a mere follower, a _peon,_ to receive such a nice gift…

"Thank you, Naruto-san. We will meet again, I know it." With that, Ajisai saw Naruto's expression lighten a little bit, but he wasn't back to his happy self. Ajisai stepped forward and gave Naruto a hug.

It seemed that, at least in Ajisai's opinion, Naruto thrived a lot on conversation and physical contact – why this was the case was unknown to her, but she had her suspicions. Perhaps it had to do with being an orphan, having no siblings, and fairly weak friendships before her and Tenten?

Of course, Ajisai, for the time being, ignored the gloating feeling she felt within herself about her getting a wonderful gift, and having alone time without Tenten around. She also ignored her own small, giddy feelings about hugs. There were very few of them in Amegakure, and no Narutos there.

Naruto, for his part, noticed the calmness within Ajisai as she hugged him. As the hug tightened, she adjusted herself with the flexibility of a stream of water, smooth and cool to the touch. She was calm, and Naruto could feel the peace within him.

They stayed like that for a minute or two, but by the end of it, Ajisai knew she needed to finish packing and leave the village. She told Naruto that she had to finish packing, but once again promised that they would see each other again. As Naruto had to do his own packing for the Fire Temple, he departed as well, but not before saying he would hold Ajisai to that promise.

"Wait, Naruto!" Naruto turned around as Ajisai came towards him, a scroll in hand.

"What is it?" Ajisai handed it to him, whispering the next sentence or two.

"This is from Tenshi-sama. She said that if you won Group A, you were ready to learn her special Kamininjutsu." Naruto's eyes widened, and he held onto the scroll as if it were his firstborn child. With that, Ajisai walked off, and Naruto watched her as she returned to her room to pack.

For a while after the fact, Naruto would vehemently deny that he was staring at her rear end as she walked back.

* * *

 **While Naruto is wise, and not quite the pervert he was at times in canon, he's still a boy in puberty, growing to appreciate being around people he feels attraction to.**

 **A couple things to pay attention to, leading into my questions: Naruto's reaction to Sarutobi, and the gaining of Konan's kamininjutsu - which battle do you think Naruto will debut it in? How do you think Naruto's fire temple visit will affect him? What plans do you think he will start to make for the immediate and long-term future?**

 **On a more personal note, for those of you who are returning to schooling of some variety in the fall, what are you looking forward to the most? I'm looking forward to seeing my friends, getting in a good schedule, and taking more distinct steps towards my future.**

 **Finally, I have a few story recommendations for you all:**

 **As always, theriku260 has been killing it with her stories. Both From Academy to ANBU and ANBU's Mascot are well-written, and are in some ways, two sides to the same coin. Two ANBU Naruto stories, one of them serious, the other one whimsical.**

 **Konoha's Weasel Prince, a fic I've recommended in the past, continues to be a great story, especially for those who enjoy Itachi as a character.**

 **The Parent Trap by MemoryWriter is an interesting one for me because I typically don't like Boruto-era fics OR real life AU stories, but this one is FANTASTIC. I only wish I had found out about it after it was finished, so I could know the ending.**

 **Lastly, Of Snakes and Time Travel by RumbleintheDumbles is rapidly becoming a beloved fic to read when it updates - Orochimaru, crack, and time travel - what could go wrong?**

 **Have a good day!**

 **~KoS**


	17. Chapter 17: Lore of Souls

**Good morning, folks! Needless to say, I should avoid making promises I can't keep in terms of editing. My classes were a bit trickier than anticipated - one of my science courses was an absolute nightmare, labs took more time than they needed to, and one of my easy classes turned out to be painfully tedious. That being said, it's good to be back home for a little while, and even better to be getting around to updating this. I intend to do some more writing, and upload some of my pre-written chapters. As such, today will be a TRIPLE UPDATE, as I will upload 3 chapters in between studying/planning & writing. I'm in a bit of a rut as to how to progress the story into Shippuden, so I'll be taking a bit of time carefully deliberating.**

 **With that said, here are some replies (Mainly for guests, whom I can't reply to directly):**

 **FakeGuest: Thanks for the ideas! Very interesting to be sure.**

 **Guest: No comment.**

 **Guest: Here it is :)**

* * *

The next day, Jiraiya and Naruto left at the crack of dawn, and before long, they reached a huge temple, larger than any individual building Naruto had ever seen. As Naruto and Jiraiya ascended the huge staircase leading up to the front gates, Naruto saw a few monks, mostly bald men with white and black ritual robes. As the pair walked up, they saw one monk was standing at the gates waiting for them. His robes were the same as the other monks, but Naruto noticed two differences – one, this man had an aura of strength. Second, he had a sash at his hip with the kanji 'Hi' present.

"Long time no see, Chiriku! How have you been?" The now named Chiriku smiled down at Jiraiya and Naruto.

"It has been, Jiraiya-sama. Things are fairly well at the temple. We, of course, wish we could have been there to aid Konoha as you have aided us in the past. Tell me, how is Asuma doing?" Naruto blinked, before remembering that Asuma had a sash of his own.

"He's doing alright. Definitely smokes more than when you knew him, but he's got his own students now. He's going to ascend to the position of Sarutobi clan head too, now that Sarutobi-sensei has passed on." Chiriku's eyes became softer as he glanced down at Naruto.

"And I suppose that brings us to the reason for your visit. You must be Uzumaki Naruto-kun, yes?" Naruto nodded, listening to the chants of monks in the distance. The village might feel empty without Jiji, and strange with new buildings replacing the ones he grew up with, but this place felt… peaceful.

"Hai, Chiriku-san. If I'm being honest, I'm not quite sure as to why Jiraiya-sama has brought us here. I don't imagine there are any brothels or hot springs worth spying on within the temple." Jiraiya grumbled, as Chiriku let out a deep, amused laugh.

"I'd say he understands you quite well, Jiraiya-sama." With that, he walked forward and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, before he turned around, watching the temple entrance with the travelers.

"Would you like a tour of the temple, Naruto-kun? I know that Jiraiya already knows this place, and it will help with why you're here." Naruto frowned, but nodded. As the three walked into the temple, Jiraiya walked off, talking with an elderly monk by the name of Bansai.

As they walked around, it soon became clear that Chiriku had no intentions of guiding Naruto around the temple, but did intend to talk to him.

"I heard you were rather close with the Sandaime, yes?" Naruto nodded, before the weight of grief returned to him.

"Yeah. I was with him the entire time, and was a part of the battle." Chiriku frowned, but looked ahead.

"What can you tell me about how the Sandaime died?" Naruto thought back to the battle.

"He used the Shiki Fujin, and sealed himself, the Shodai, and Nidai Hokage inside of the Shinigami, along with Orochimaru's arms."

"How do you know he sealed himself inside of the Shinigami? Did you learn about the seal afterwards?" Naruto shook his head.

"I saw it. I saw the Shinigami as he took their souls, and the Shinigami looked at me before it vanished." With that, Chiriku looked mildly disturbed.

"I've only ever heard of people seeing the Shinigami if they're summoning it, or if they're sealed in it." Said Chiriku quietly. Naruto looked up at the sky, blinking tears out of his eyes.

"Chiriku-san, what happens to people if they're inside of the Shinigami?" Chiriku sighed, before sitting down on a bench. Naruto sat next to him, and they watched a tree rustle in the wind on the other side of the courtyard.

"To explain that, let's first talk about death." Naruto was internally uncomfortable, but nodded nonetheless.

"When a person dies, a few things happen to them. In the old days, we thought all souls went through reincarnation unless they were deemed worthy, at which point they went to the Pure Lands. Or, if they were truly evil, sent to the hell-lands." Naruto was curious.

"The Pure Lands?" Chiriku blinked, remembering that Naruto was unfamiliar with the Temple's religious lore.

"The Pure Lands are a place that exist for righteous souls. If you think of the hell-lands as a place suitable for the worst souls, the Pure Lands are the exact opposite. Our scriptures tell us the lands themselves are the most beautiful place a person can ever see. For a while, we had no proof of the Pure Land existing, rather than reincarnation or damnation."

"For a while?" Chiriku nodded.

"Yes, your Nidaime Hokage made a jutsu known as the Edo Tensei. From what I know, that's the method Orochimaru used to resurrect him and the Shodai." Naruto recalled the coffins, and the shuffling, black-sclera corpses that had turned into killing puppets, their souls dragged from another realm.

"How does the Edo Tensei have to do with the Pure Lands and resurrection?" Chiriku smiled.

"When he used the Edo Tensei, it didn't matter where the shinobi were from, or how they died. If their souls weren't sealed, they could be reincarnated. When the souls were released, they went into the sky, into the heavens. This means that they all are dragged from the same place, and all return to the same place, _as long as they aren't sealed_. This is what caused our practices to change – now we know that all souls will go to the Pure Lands, but that isn't all." Naruto looked at Chiriku, who pointed at the tree.

"Do you see that tree, Naruto? When it dies, its trunk will wither and its leaves will fall. Its chakra will disperse, and it will be gone. But it lives on, its legacy continues through its seeds." Naruto took a second to wrap his head around the idea, before nodding.

"But when those trees grow, they are not perfect clones of their predecessors – the land that feeds them nutrients is different, their waterways are different, the wars and actions of people and animals change the land. But at the same time, the original tree lives on, does it not?" Naruto shrugged, finding a dilemma or two in Chiriku's logic.

"So think of it this way, Naruto-kun. One part of the tree dies, another is reincarnated in a different land, with a different life ahead of it." Naruto was starting to understand, but didn't understand how this related to the Pure Land idea.

"When each soul dies, its chakra disperses, and the soul goes to the Pure Land. But still, some chakra and _essence_ is kept, transmigrating _across_ time, where a person born can be the reincarnation of someone from long ago." Naruto thought of this, before looking at the tree.

"Can I ask a few questions?" Asked Naruto. Chiriku nodded, still looking at the tree.

"How do you know that you actually reached the Pure Lands? How do you know that the Edo Tensei isn't just chakra making a shell of someone using their flesh or something like that?" Chiriku nodded, approving of the good question.

"Because when the Nidaime resurrected someone, and someone else resurrected them after a period of time, they would remember what they did during the Nidame's resurrection. This means that their memory is stored somewhere _outside_ of the body, _outside_ of the physical realm of existence. This means that the souls are somewhere else, right?" Naruto nodded, slowly.

"The Nidaime's jutsu was also based off of religious practices, like the ones found at this temple. Thus, we knew the souls, or at least _part_ of the souls, are going to somewhere together. This means either the hell-lands or the Pure Lands, yes?" Naruto was following this logic, somehow.

"However, the souls can't remember anything from when they've died until then. Their memories are stored somewhere, but when they return, they can't remember anything between reincarnations. Keep in mind, Naruto, the bodies of those under Edo Tensei regenerate, which means any changes to their brains caused by memory would be _instantly_ sorted back out in most cases, but their memories are kept intact." Naruto was silent for a while, as he processed everything.

"If souls are in the Pure Lands, how can they also reincarnate?" Chiriku sighed, and gathered his thoughts before responding.

"It's something that is a confusion to many monks, but there are a few reasons we have to believe it is _most likely_ this way. The first is that there are echoes of the past in people who have never seen or heard of it – children who instinctively know a place they and their parents have never heard of, or never been to. There are names that are familiar, that stick out even when they realistically _shouldn't_. There are people who are familiar who _shouldn't_ be, yet those souls who see echoes from their own past lives understand instinctively. That uncanny sensation is the most powerful reason."

"And the others?"

"The second is the fact that there are so many new beings coming into existence, at a pretty similar rate to those dying. The reincarnation piece comes into play because of the question of how new souls can be created for _every_ living being? This, in combination with the idea of the echoes, the cycles, is what creates our ideas." Naruto didn't put much stock in the second idea, but one memory of his seemed uncannily like the description of the echoes.

"How can this all be connected? It just doesn't make sense." Chiriku laughed.

"Chakra."

"Chakra?" Replied Naruto, incredulously.

"Indeed. Think of it this way, Naruto-kun. Chakra allows us to exceed our body's limits. Chakra allows us to breathe fire or spew out entire oceans from our bodies. Chakra allows us to summon great animals, and chakra allows us to seal giant foxes inside of baby boys. Should you of all people be surprised by what Chakra can do at this point?" Naruto was surprised that Chiriku knew, but realized he shouldn't be surprised at all. Chakra made no sense sometimes.

"So, assuming the Pure Lands exist, there is reincarnation, and chakra connects everything like that, does that mean Jiji, the Shodaime, and the Nidaime have already resurrected?" Chiriku tilted his head.

"The Senju brothers, Hashirama and Tobirama, may have already reincarnated, because they died so long before they were sealed. As for the Sandaime… His death was the sealing. Think of it this way, Naruto. If the brothers reincarnated before the Sandaime sealed them, then they have reincarnated, and because their reincarnations exist and are unsealed, their chakra should _continue_ to reincarnate, even if the original is sealed. Of course, we're assuming that Hashirama and Tobirama Senju weren't just one part of a long chain of resurrections, and that the two of them are more than simple turns of the cycle." Chiriku stood up, and Naruto did too, stretching his arms. He was still tired after waking up so early.

"So how do I get Jiji out of the Shinigami?" Chiriku shook his head.

"I can't say the answer to that. If you honestly asked most monks, they would tell you not to even bother worrying, that it's better to focus on the present rather than changing the dead." Naruto looked up at Chiriku.

"Why wouldn't you say that?" Chiriku looked down at Naruto, his eyes hard.

"Because if my old friend Asuma Sarutobi came up to me and asked how to save his father, I couldn't look him in the eyes and tell him to let things go, to simply sit back while his father sat in the Shinigami's belly for all eternity." Somehow, the idea of the Sandaime being in the death god's belly made the situation seem even more horrible.

"But… But…" Naruto trailed off. Chiriku walked towards the Temple library, Naruto following.

"How about this, Naruto-kun? I don't know the answer to your question, and if I'm being honest with you, I don't think there is an answer." Naruto deflated. "But, I will allow you to look through the Temple library for any information you want about death, about death rituals, and about the Shiki Fuujin itself." Naruto looked up at Chiriku, grateful.

"Thank you, Chiriku-san. I'll leave the temple library even cleaner than I found it." Chiriku laughed and patted Naruto on the back, telling him to read as much as he could, because Jiraiya would get bored soon enough.


	18. Chapter 18: Tea with Itachi!

**#2 of 3. This one has a bit more action in it :).**

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Several hours later, Jiraiya nearly had to physically pry Naruto off of the scrolls. Naruto squawked and grabbed the notes he had made, but allowed himself to be dragged out. For the next day, as they primarily travelled to make up for lost time, Naruto poured over his notes as he walked. When Jiraiya asked Naruto what he was up to, the boy merely shrugged and hid his notes from his mentor's line of sight.

"You aren't still stuck about what happened to Sarutobi-sensei, are you?" Naruto shook his head, but didn't reply. Jiraiya, deciding to let the matter rest for now, continued walking with Naruto. As they walked into town, Jiraiya handed Naruto some money and told him to get a room, before chasing after a pretty woman in a blue dress. Sighing, Naruto paid for a nice room with two beds, and dragged himself there.

Once present, Naruto sat down at the short table in the room and started preparing tea as he went over the notes from before, while pulling out a few sticks of dango he had stored in his pack. Naruto unloaded four mugs – he originally intended to use this set for the first time with Konan-sensei, Tenten, and Ajisai, but the former left, and now the lattermost was returning to Amegakure too. Several minutes later, the tea was ready, and so Naruto sighed as he poured the first cup full, as he heard the door knock.

Surprised, Naruto walked over to it, wondering why Jiraiya would even bother following that woman if he was going to return so soon. As Naruto opened the door, it became clear that neither of the people outside was Jiraiya.

On the right, a man with blue skin, spiked hair, and gills under his eyes grinned at Naruto with sharpened teeth, while one hand held a massive, bandaged bundle. On the left, the shorter man stood – black hair, stress lines, and fully evolved standard sharingan looked down at Naruto.

Both wore the same black cloaks with red clouds that Konan-sensei did, but Naruto theorized that these men were not quite as benevolent as his savior.

"Hello there. What can I do for you?" Asked Naruto, his mind whirring internally, searching for a solution.

"Why don't we take a walk, Naruto-kun?" Naruto frowned internally, but kept up his smile, until an idea popped into his head.

"I would love to take a walk, Uchiha-san, but I have just finished making tea, and have a few sticks of dango. I'd rather not want to risk burning down the building, or leaving the sweets out to stale. May I invite you inside instead?" Now, this risk was made for two reasons. Firstly, Jiraiya would eventually return. Hopefully. Secondly, there was a rumor in Naruto's early academy days that the reason Sasuke so vehemently disliked sweets was because his brother had a sweet tooth, and ate all the candy of the Uchiha clan.

Among those who knew Sasuke well, this rumor changed upon learning of the Uchiha's downfall – his distaste for sweets, once a factor of allowing his brother to eat them, was now fed by Sasuke's hatred of his brother.

"I suppose some dango shouldn't hurt." Said Itachi, as he and Kisame entered Naruto's room, before sitting down at the table present. Naruto, pouring a glass of tea to his two guests, and offering the former Konoha-nin a stick of dango, decided to start the conversation.

"Thank you for being so considerate, Uchiha-san. Not many would choose to have tea with me." While Naruto was trying to buy time and use flattery to his advantage, he was well aware of the fact that Itachi was a part of Naruto's old ANBU guard, and considering Naruto's only real danger in his childhood years occurred some months after Itachi defected, he held the Uchiha in some regard for successfully protecting him so well.

"Considerate, eh? Kid, I bet you don't even know who you're talking to." Naruto smiled at the former Kiri-nin.

"I should know, considering his younger brother is on my team. Not a day goes by on missions without being reminded that Itachi Uchiha killed his entire family, sans his younger brother. Of course, I should like to call you something other than 'Itachi's _nakama_ ', what should I name you as?" Kisame laughed, before replying.

"You're insane, kid. The name's Hoshigaki Kisame, I'm a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist." Naruto's eyes widened.

"Wow, really? I ran into an old colleague of yours not too long ago." Kisame's grin grew more feral.

"Huh. I did hear that Zabuza died some time ago. Tell me kid, who killed him?" Naruto paused. Who deserved the credit for killing Zabuza?

"I don't know if any one person deserves the credit. I suppose you could make the argument for my sensei, Kakashi Hatake, or perhaps the now deceased businessman Gato, who assembled the mob that wounded Zabuza repeatedly." Kisame laughed again.

"You know, you almost sound sane, but no sane man calls Itachi Uchiha considerate." Naruto laughed once again.

"Hoshigaki-san, it's almost certain that as of right now, Uchiha-san is among the top fifty people in the category for being nice to me. I hope you can forgive my momentary insanity." Kisame bared his sharp teeth at Naruto before responding.

"Quite the life you've had, kid. Hopefully it's worth it in the end." Itachi, who had been resting his eyes, opened them sharply.

"Now now, Kisame. Let's not be too threatening. Naruto-kun has offered to be our host for right now, and I'd like to learn a bit about his life so far. So, you've mentioned a team. Have you found anyone else precious to you?" Naruto gaped incredulously at the Uchiha, whose sharingan were off, at least for now.

"With all due respect, Uchiha-san, your track record makes me a bit uncertain about responding. I've only just gotten over the death of the Sandaime Hokage, and would rather not continue down that spiral." Kisame laughed.

"Don't worry, kid. By the time Itachi got around to killing any of them, you'd be waiting for them at the gates to the afterlife." Naruto looked over at Kisame.

"Thank you, Hoshigaki-san. Still, I'd rather avoid it." Itachi sighed.

"It won't be difficult to find out, and Naruto undoubtedly won't be too difficult in helping our ultimate plan. Isn't that right, Naruto-kun?" Itachi looked over at Naruto sharply. Naruto, not meeting the Uchiha's gaze, gave a reply.

"I think that would depend on the content of this visit, Uchiha-san. If it's alright, may I know?" Itachi hummed, seemingly alright with this situation, before responding.

"We have some business with you, or rather, the thing you contain." Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Please don't leave me in the dark, Uchiha-san. I'd rather know the exact content of what your business is with me." Kisame laughed, before answering for his partner.

"Putting it bluntly, we're capturing you bijuu hosts one by one, and extracting your bijuu. We'll use them for some greater purpose, don't worry about that." Naruto frowned.

"Having the Kyuubi extracted sounds like a painful process." Kisame chuckled once more.

"It takes three days to remove it, kid. And then you die. Trust me, it's not a process you want." Kisame and the others hadn't actually extracted the first bijuu yet, but Pein and Konan had informed them the pain of the jinchuriki was unimaginable.

"Thanks for the information, but I'm afraid I'll have to be difficult, Hoshigaki-san. There are a few people important to me, and I've got to help them out." The first, Jiji. The second, Lee. The third, repaying Tenten and Ajisai. He didn't think his savior needed help, especially if she was one of these bijuu-extractors too. Kisame grabbed the large bundle on his back and placed it close to Naruto's shoulder.

"If you'd like, I can remove a leg, or perhaps your arm. You'll live long enough, and Itachi's katon ninjutsu can even cauterize the wound for you. Isn't that sweet?" Naruto wasn't sure how to respond. Should he continue with a conversational tone, or try to take these two by surprise? Both seemed like horrible options.

"It's been a long time." Itachi was still looking towards Naruto, but the Uzumaki became aware of someone else, standing in the doorway.

"Uchiha Itachi!" Said Sasuke, who was standing in the doorway. "I've come here to kill you!" Kisame looked up in interest.

"An Uchiha? Wow, Itachi. I didn't think you'd leave a survivor. Who is this kid?" Itachi didn't even turn around.

"My kid brother. He wasn't worth killing at the time. Come on, Kisame. Let's escort Naruto-kun out of here." It was then that Sasuke looked at Naruto.

"Naruto! Did you not know that these guys are after you? How much of an idiot are you, having tea and sweets with them?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"I figured that I might be able to buy time by speaking with them, while my sensei stopped messing around with whoever caught his eye." Sasuke started going through handsigns.

"I have waited for so long, Itachi. I've festered hatred, and prepared for this very moment. Now, there will only be one Uchiha left!" With that, several things happened at once. Kisame smirked. Itachi sighed. Naruto jumped away from the table, preparing for combat. Sasuke lunged at his brother, chidori sparking.

One second later, Itachi and Kisame were more or less in the same positions as before, but the Uchiha was holding Sasuke's wrist, and from the scream that emanated from the younger brother, his wrist was broken.

Naruto, for his part, had started channeling chakra.

"Sorry kid, no fun with chakra today." Said Kisame, putting his bandaged sword near Naruto's shoulder, as Naruto watched it suck all the chakra he had just brought to the forefront. Cursing, he jumped back and pulled out a kunai and a few tags.

Kisame was quick on the pursuit, and brought the sword down, only to be blocked by a puff of smoke and an armored toad.

"You think that such a thing could fool me? I am Jiraiya-sama, the great toad sage! You think that putting this woman in a genjutsu can fool me? Beautiful women come to me, and beg to see me, Konoha's greatest sage!" Naruto gave Jiraiya a deadpan stare.

"I had enough time to sit down, make a cup of tea, and then have tea and snacks with these two before you even showed up." Jiraiya looked at Naruto.

"Small details! Now, let's see what we can do here." Kisame looked uneasy, and Itachi was watching Jiraiya intently, while Sasuke started screaming again.

"You don't have any reason to scream, Sasuke. Why don't you let me change that?" With that, Itachi's eyes transformed into their Mangekyo Sharingan, before whispering a word that would haunt Sasuke and drive him into an unstable unconsciousness for weeks: "Tsukuyomi." As Naruto and Jiraiya watched as Sasuke's scream grew in intensity before dying down, they could only wonder what had happened to Naruto's teammate, as Jiraiya started running through seals.

To Naruto's shock, flesh started coming out of the walls, trapping all of the shinobi inside.

"Welcome to the stomach of a toad, Itachi! Now, prepare for your doom!" Kisame raised his sword, ready to fight, but Itachi had other plans.

"Let's go, Kisame. Amaterasu!" Itachi allowed the black flames to burn through the toad's stomach before the two dashed out. Naruto ran up to his teammate and checked on him. He seemed to be breathing, and his heart rate was stable, but his unconsciousness seemed anything but peaceful.

"How is he, kid?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto shook his head.

"I hope we can find this medic teammate of yours, because she's gonna have another Konoha-nin to heal when we get back." Naruto said, pained by the state of affairs. As Jiraiya was about to look out of the window, a man jumped through the gap, kicking Jiraiya in the face.

"Haha, enemies of Konoha beware! I am Maito Gai, the greatest of taijutsu users!" Naruto's eye was twitching at this point – in between Jiraiya's pride and Gai's insanity, when would his mental state be even remotely suitable for learning Konan's jutsu?

As Jiraiya yelled at Gai and Gai apologized, Tenten's jonin sensei turned to Naruto, giving him a bright smile.

"Ohayo, Naruto-kun! I have to thank you for all that you have done for my team!" Naruto blinked.

"Lee's spirits are high after your visit, Tenten is stronger and happier than ever after training with you, and Neji seems to have found peace and youth!" Naruto decoded Gai's sentence.

"I'm glad to hear. How is Neji nowadays?" Gai laughed.

"He's ready to work alongside his teammates, and resolves to help the Hyuuga clan change. He was even helping his cousin out after they left the hospital!" Naruto's eyes widened, but he then smiled. It seemed that Neji had taken Naruto's words to heart – now all Naruto had to do was remove a century-old seal from the Hyuuga clan. No biggie, right?

As Naruto politely declined Gai's offer of bright green spandex and 'Youthfulness Training', he remembered that Tenten was also a fan of this Tsunade, and wondered how she would react when he returned, her idol in tow. Would she ignore him as she went to Tsunade, or would something else happen? As Naruto fought down a blush at his imagination of a hug, some praise, and a kiss from Tenten, he also wondered what Tsunade had even been doing for the past twenty-something years.

"I'm glad that Neji is doing better." Naruto said, and he meant it. Neji doing well was not only a good thing for the young Hyuuga, but it was better for Lee, Tenten, and the group identity of the twelve Konoha genin who had distinguished themselves – Team 7, Team 8, Team 10, and Team Gai.

"Yes, and I'm sure that Tenten would love to see you when you get back. You didn't tell her you were leaving the village." Said Gai, with a sharper look. Naruto felt slightly nervous – was this the 'older male relative treatment' that Konan had talked about, when giving him and Team Ajisai The Talk?

"Of course. If you see her before I return, could you convey my apologies? I'll visit her as soon as Tsunade-sama heals Sasuke and Lee." Gai smiled.

"And Kakashi too! Itachi took down my youthful rival, and he's been in the same type of coma as Sasuke." Naruto's eyes widened, but resolved even further to find this Tsunade.

As Gai took Sasuke and wished the Sannin and Uzumaki the best of luck, Naruto and Jiraiya continued onward, until they reached the town of Tanzaku, where Jiraiya accidentally got on the wrong side of a retired chunin, before blasting the man with a 'Rasengan'.

"You want to learn a jutsu that strong, kid?" Naruto half-heartedly shrugged, his mind somewhere between the notes from the temple sitting in the back of his bag, the Kamininjutsu scroll from Konan, his worry towards his injured friends and teammates, and the pros and cons of Tenten and Ajisai.


	19. Chapter 19: Sannin Reunite!

**Part 3 of the triple update. Fun times.**

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As Naruto walked around Tanzaku Gai, he pondered what to do next – he had done chakra control exercises at the command of Jiraiya, but the man had vanished to do hell knows what, and he had taken Naruto's wallet with him! Naruto, incensed, had used sensory tags to check the area before working on Konan's kamininjutsu. Luckily, Naruto kept a few ryo with him, and he now walked through town, as he looked for something to eat.

Buying some Takoyaki, he walked around town, before hearing raucous laughter coming from a so-called 'love store'. Naruto sighed as he looked inside, only to see Jiraiya surrounded by scantily-clad women, drinks, and on the table, Naruto's gama wallet, nearly empty. Sighing, Naruto grabbed it before turning to Jiraiya.

"Cheap old pervert! You think I'm ever letting you use my wallet again? Look at yourself." One of the women laughed.

"Look at this gaki! He's only sad because he wishes he could have used his money the same way you did, Jiraiya-sama." Said the woman, emphasizing the 'sama'."

"Hell no." Said Naruto. He knew two people more beautiful than every single one of these women, and they didn't have to be half-naked to be so. Considering that this room also had a sensei inferior to at least three others Naruto had studied under, Naruto wondered why he had expected anything less. At least he had made _some_ progress with the various techniques Konan had written for him.

As Naruto left, he wandered around, wondering how long it would take to find this Tsunade fellow. Jiraiya had said she was definitely in town, so Naruto allowed his eyes to rove over the buildings, deciding to take a wild guess, or see where his emotions led him.

As Naruto set his eyes on a gambling den, he felt an odd sensation in his stomach. Was this not the same familiarity and trust he had felt when fighting the Shodai? Was this not the same strange warmth within him that he felt when he saw his Jiji for the first time, all those years ago?

Trusting in this strange feeling, he walked inside, before looking around. Obviously, this person should be around fifty years old or so, if she was Jiraiya's teammate, but Naruto knew that appearances could be deceiving – the Henge no Jutsu was a thing for a reason.

As he looked at the various people playing a simple game of cho-han, Naruto's eyes rested on a woman with blonde hair, a gray yukata, green cloak, and a diamond on her forehead. Frowning, Naruto decided to leave – he was far too young to gamble, but he had the strangest feeling that he should know who that was. Oh well. Back to looking around town, listening for anyone saying the word 'Tsunade', before returning to training.

That evening, Jiraiya checked on Naruto's progress. Luckily, Naruto had decided to switch to working on Chakra exercises the instant he felt Jiraiya's chakra signature stabilize and move towards him, so his kamininjutsu progress, however small, was secret.

After all, Naruto using Konan's taijutsu was suspicious, using her ninjutsu style would set off every alarm in Jiraiya's mind.

"Let's go, kid. Apparently Tsunade was seen in a few places around town today, so she's likely in a bar right now." Naruto gave Jiraiya a cold look.

"Haven't you spent enough of my money on alcohol, Jiraiya-sama?" Jiraiya held his hands in a placating gesture.

"Sorry, kid. How about this? If you come along with me for this search, I'll pay for our dinner in the pub. Pubs have pretty decent food, don't you know?" Naruto didn't know, but he figured that Jiraiya paying for his dinner would start to offset his costs. Plus, the worst that could happen was that they needed to search another place for Tsunade.

"Alright. Let's find her." Jiraiya smiled, and the two went off, before finding an inconspicuous looking pub. As Jiraiya looked around, he stopped and stared at a woman across the bar. As Naruto followed his temporary sensei's gaze, he saw the woman from before, but she was not alone – with her was a black-haired woman holding onto a pig with beads and a coat.

"Tsunade!"

"Jiraiya!" She yelled back, and Naruto's eye twitched. If only he had simply talked to her, this could have been done hours ago. The four sat down, and Naruto met Shizune Kato, a kind-hearted woman who had accompanied her shishou through thick and thin ever since the Senju left Konoha.

"This is a bit of a reunion." Said Tsunade. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Orochimaru was here too?" Tsunade grunted, Shizune looking uncomfortable.

"Yeah. He said that he had killed Sarutobi and needed me to heal his arms." Jiraiya gave a dark growl, but Naruto's mind was spinning – weren't Orochimaru's arms inside of the Shinigami? How would basic healing do _anything_ to restore their chakra?

"Yeah. Sarutobi-sensei is dead. I'm going to be blunt with you, Tsunade – the elders and council have come together, and they've decided you will be the Godaime Hokage." Tsunade didn't even look up, but Naruto was in shock. Tsunade wasn't exactly impressive like Jiji was, and she was a drunkard, gambler, and a wanderer of more than twenty years – how could she even be considered as Hokage? And even more importantly, why didn't Naruto know about this?

"Hell no." Said Tsunade. "I'm not taking that hat. It's a fool's errand." Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"A fool's errand?" Tsunade fixed the blonde with a stare.

"Yeah. Tell me, kid, what do you know about the Hokage?" Naruto's nostrils flared.

"I was with the Sandaime when he died, and I fought against the Edo Tensei Shodai." Tsunade laughed.

"So you must understand why it's such a fool's errand. One Hokage sealed himself into _death itself_ to keep the village intact, two more died in war and got reanimated, and the third had to sacrifice himself in the same way as his successor just to stop his predecessors." Naruto's rage, which had been slowly simmer down since Jiraiya's little stunt, was starting to increase again.

"You think their deaths weren't worth anything, Tsunade-sama?" Tsunade snorted.

"They're idiots. Only a moron takes the job of Hokage. I don't know what my Jiji was thinking, or what my Sensei was doing when he accepted that accursed position." Naruto was nearly seeing red, but calmed himself down, before thinking of a reply.

"Well, brat? No reply to that?" Naruto stood up, looking down at Tsunade.

"You're the first's granddaughter, the second's grandniece, and the third's student, aren't you?" Tsunade nodded.

"You aren't worth standing in their shadow, or collecting the bread crumbs from under their table." Naruto said, coldly.

"What did you say, brat?" Jiraiya looked at Naruto testily before turning to Tsunade, and Shizune looked worried.

"You heard me clearly, old lady. I spoke with the Shodaime before he was sealed, and I can tell he's over a thousand times the person you could ever be. I grew up alone, with no parents or relatives, and the Sandaime cared for me like his own grandson. I won't let some washed up hag speak about either of them that way." Tsunade's eyes narrowed.

"You want to back up your words, kozo?" Naruto nodded, before Tsunade followed him outside. As Naruto and Tsunade stood in the street, Shizune urged them to stop fighting while Jiraiya placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head.

"Tsunade, are you really going to fight this brat?" Tsunade looked over at Naruto.

"The kid has a big mouth for someone so unaccomplished. He talks so big about the Hokage yet can't even save _one_ of them." Naruto's rage, simmering, raged to a roaring boil.

"Let me fight her, Ero-sennin." Said Naruto, looking at Tsunade, as he pulled out his naginata. Of course, fighting against Itachi and Kisame served as a good reminder for Naruto – opponents of the caliber Naruto was used to fighting against were eons below these legends. Neji was arrogant and complacent, the Shodai was weaker than in life and actively fighting against his binding, and Kisame had disarmed Naruto's chakra forming completely without doing _anything_ other than lightly swinging his sword.

If Naruto was going to become something other than paste, it would come down to Tsunade's arrogance, alcohol clouding her judgement, and her being out of practice for so many years.

Otherwise, Naruto would be dead long before he could fulfill his various promises.

Tsunade leapt at Naruto, who jumped out of the way, before witnessing in shock as the entire road was torn up, leaving Tsunade standing in a crater. What colossal strength, even while so weak relative to her prime!

"I'm only using one finger, kid. That's all I'll need to beat you." Naruto pointed the blade of his Naginata towards her.

"And if I manage to impress you, you _will_ become Hokage, and take back what you said about the Hokage!" Tsunade snorted, but agreed, even deciding to throw her necklace, the necklace of the Shodai into it.

"Oh, it's that green one, isn't it?" Asked Naruto, before Tsunade pulled it out.

"Yeah, heard of it?" Naruto shrugged, but knew he had something else to think about when he got back to his room tonight. _If_ he got back to his room, Naruto corrected himself. If Tsunade truly lost her temper around him, he wasn't sure there would be much of a town left for him to use as shelter.

Of course, Naruto was too slow for Tsunade's next dash, and poked him in the stomach, throwing him a few dozen meters. As Naruto stood up, clutching his stomach, he pulled his Naginata into a combat position, before using one piece of Konan's kamininjutsu to heal himself. Tsunade, observing the healing, decided to listen to Jiraiya as he once again urged her to stop.

"That kid's got an interesting amount of healing. Hey, brat!" Naruto looked at her.

"If you get that healing to an impressive level in the next week or so, I'll become Hokage, and agree to those other terms." Naruto nodded, before collapsing to his knees. Of course, he managed to stand up and walk back to the hotel room he and Jiraiya had booked, but Jiraiya was both nagging Naruto for his poor decision and thanking Naruto for using a bet to determine the outcome – apparently Tsunade's gambling streak was a cold one at best.

For the next week, Naruto trained immensely hard on his own, while Jiraiya worked around town, fortifying his spy network. Every day, Naruto would wake up early in the morning and work late into the night. Naruto had asked Jiraiya to let him tackle this on his own, and Jiraiya had said he planned on allowing Naruto to do that anyway.

After the first two days, Naruto could turn his arms up to the elbow into paper, and restore them with some difficulty.

His healing ability, which involved turning some of his body into paper, specifically shosen tags, was a slow progress. Because Naruto had to firstly turn a part of his body he couldn't see into paper, ensure they were tags with specific purposes, and then properly _utilize_ those tags was difficult, and required considerable practice and micromanagement.

Therefore, Naruto had dozens of clones working on it – alternating between hurting each other and healing. Naruto was burning through his entire chakra pool every day, eating and sleeping to recover it, and then burning through it again.

On the sixth day, Tsunade returned to the room she and Shizune stayed in, only to see her apprentice treating the unconscious Uzumaki boy.

"What happened to him?" She asked, not at all concerned.

"He trained too hard, I imagine. His body isn't strong enough to train all day every day." Tsunade snorted, before preparing to get some rest.

"Tsunade-sama, please tell me you aren't going to accept Orochimaru's deal. You know that he can't bring Uncle Dan and Nawaki back to life." Tsunade gave a grunt.

"Tsunade-sama, I will oppose you if you do this!" Said Shizune, looking more like a fierce lioness than the meek apprentice of Tsunade she normally was.

"Nice joke, Shizune." Said Tsunade, and half a second later, the apprentice felt a hand slap against the back of her neck, into a pressure point. She crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

The next morning, Shizune woke up, and remembered what Tsunade was about to do. Eyes widening, she jumped up before she realized someone was outside the window. Opening it up, she saw Jiraiya, looking weak and angry.

"Where is Princess?" He sounded angry too.

"I don't know, Jiraiya-sama. She knocked me out last night when I told her I wasn't going to let her make a deal with Orochimaru. What happened to you, Jiraiya-sama?" Jiraiya sighed.

"She drugged me. I see the kid's in here too. He train too hard?" Shizune nodded, before turning to Jiraiya.

"Here, let me heal you Jiraiya-sama. You're our best shot of taking down Orochimaru." The Sannin grunted as Naruto stirred.

"Ero-sennin? Shizune-nee?" Naruto looked around, seeing a worn-out looking Jiraiya with Shizune's hand on his back, a caring expression on her face. Naruto, getting the wrong idea, blushed heavily.

"What were you two doing in here before I woke up?" Jiraiya snorted and Shizune fixed Naruto with a look, as the Uzumaki smiled sheepishly.

"I was healing Jiraiya-sama, who was drugged by my Shishou." Naruto frowned.

"What's going on?" Shizune filled Naruto in – Orochimaru's deal with Tsunade, and the need for human sacrifices. Naruto, looking at Jiraiya, realized that his sensei was drugged for a reason – was she intending to use them to bring back her reanimated loved ones?

A couple minutes later, Jiraiya and Naruto were back to a workable state, as Shizune accompanied the master and student to the castle, where they saw a trail of broken buildings, and Jiraiya could see the form of Manda outside the city.

"It seems that Hime's still got some Konoha spirit in her." Said Jiraiya fondly.

"Not the time, old pervert!" Said Naruto, running ahead of the other two as they dashed towards the battlefield.

As they reached it, Naruto ran through hand seals, seeing Tsunade's great slug and Orochimaru's great snake.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Yelled Naruto, infusing his own and Kyuubi's chakra into it, summoning Gamabunta, the great toad.

"Wow. Long time no see, Manda, Katsuyu." Said 'Bunta, looking at his old comrades.

"Orochimaru, you'd better have human sacrifices lined up for me." Said Manda to his summoner. As Naruto and Jiraiya stood atop their boss summon, they engaged into a fight with Manda. Naruto, seeing an opportunity as the two titans clashed, jumped onto the back of Manda, using the chakra sticking from water-walking and tree climbing to stay on the underside of the great snake, as he ran up the beast, reaching its eyes.

In a move eerily reminiscent from his fight against Shukaku, Naruto slashed through one eye of Manda before the beast roared and threw Naruto off, as Naruto found himself on yet another battlefield – Tsunade and Shizune were staring down… Yakushi Kabuto? Sniffing sweat, earth, and animal stink, he narrowed his eyes as he viewed the newcomer.

"Kabuto-san?" Asked Naruto. "What are you doing in these parts?" Kabuto pushed his glasses up.

"Can't you tell, Naruto? I'm a spy for Orochimaru-sama." Naruto's face turned into a scowl, as Tsunade and Shizune each tried fighting the Yakushi, only to watch Kabuto slash himself with a kunai, causing Tsunade to freeze up. Kabuto had also hit Shizune with a lucky hit, and so Naruto found himself alone, defending the Slug Sannin and her apprentice.

Pulling out his Naginata, he started his combat with the Yakushi, slashing up, down, side to side, diagonal, stabbing, and ultimately doing what he could to drive the cruel medic back. Ultimately, Naruto found himself being driven back, the pain in his lungs indicating his becoming more winded.

"You think you can win, Naruto-kun? How naïve." Said Kabuto, before landing a hit onto Naruto's heart. Naruto, feeling his body weaken as his heart burned like a painful flower within his chest, collapsed, as he tried to utilize his technique. He didn't realize that his going down triggered something in Tsunade, and restored the great will the Senju once had.

As she started pummeling the Yakushi boy in earnest, Orochimaru was also losing his battle – losing Manda's eye had done a number on the great snake's willingness to stay, and Orochimaru soon found himself without a summon. Soon, Orochimaru called out to his second-in-command, and the two escaped, as Jiraiya came over to see Tsunade checking Naruto's heart.

"Impossible!" Said Tsunade, looking down at Naruto.

"What is it, hime?" Asked Jiraiya wearily. He was tired from fighting Orochimaru while drugged.

"His heart… He somehow got his healing technique in motion before he fell unconscious. He's almost completely fine now!" With that, Naruto's eyes opened, and he sat up, before clutching at his heart again.

"Ah! Hurts more than expected." Still, Naruto looked around.

"What happened to four-eyes and the snake?" Shizune knelt down by Naruto and administered a Shosen to heal any remaining damage to his heart.

"It seems that your efforts did a lot to win us the day, Naruto-kun. Taking out one of Manda's eyes helped Jiraiya-sama win his battle, and your efforts brought out a fire in Tsunade-sama I haven't seen in decades." Naruto smiled at his elder sister figure.

"That's good… Can I take a nap, Shizune-nee?" Shizune was about to say that he could, before Tsunade spoke up.

"Well, it looks like that healing technique of yours did its job, Naruto." Tsunade looked at Naruto kindly. "I must admit, I've never felt so happy to lose a bet." Naruto gave her a grin as he received the necklace. Putting it on, Naruto felt more… complete with the necklace. Naruto didn't feel incomplete before, but with the necklace he felt much better. With that, Naruto went into the land of sleeping and allowed Shizune to carry the boy back to his and Jiraiya's room, while Jiraiya went back to recover more.

Tsunade, who had won a grand lottery right before running into her old teammates one week earlier, was forced to pay its entirety back to the town due to the severity of the building damage from her fights with Naruto and Orochimaru. Of course, she was also planning on her re-entrance to the village, but any spectator would agree that planning a grand entrance was nowhere near as funny as the broken sight of an even more broke Tsunade.


	20. Chapter 20: Konohamaru's Trouble

**The last time I had a plant, was... never. My apologies for the long delay. I have more chapters, and will make no promises about uploading them in a timely manner. I won't give any particular excuse for the reasoning behind the delay, but here is what I will say - some parts of my list of excuses are valid, others have no such place and should not be mentioned as such. Hopefully, this humble offering below will act as a temporary sacrifice while I whip up more of these chapters into document format.**

As Naruto walked back into the village with Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya, he found his odd bunch of travel companions going off to do their own things – Tsunade moving back into the Senju compound, however brief a time she would be there before moving into the Hokage's residence, Shizune reconnecting with old friends and classmates, and Jiraiya reporting his mission success before going off to 'research'. Naruto, for his part, idly wandered the streets until he got news that Tsunade was heading to the hospital.

Five minutes later, Kakashi and Sasuke were healed, and Shizune would apparently take on the surgery to save Lee soon enough, but not before Naruto gave his honorary nee-san a huge stack of Shosen tags to aid in the process. While Naruto was told that the regeneration from these tags might only bring the surgery's success rate from 50% to 50.25% or 50.5%, Naruto said every bit counted, and insisted that Shizune let him know if any more tags were needed.

Before long, Naruto found himself standing in front of Sasuke's hospital room. The last Uchiha was brooding, as he usually did in these times, but Naruto could feel a dark anger lurking beneath him, just because of how long they had been teammates.

"How has your recovery been, Sasuke?" Asked Naruto, looking at his teammate, while Sakura cried, hugging the last Uchiha. Sasuke eyed Naruto, ignoring Sakura entirely.

"Why was he after you, loser?" Naruto frowned, but decided to ignore the insult for now.

"I don't know." Realistically, Naruto did know, but he was uncomfortable with Sasuke knowing about the amount of power Naruto had imprisoned within him.

"Why the hell would he go after an idiot like you, and ignore his future killer?" Naruto shrugged, still uncomfortable.

"Fight me, Naruto. I want to see what Itachi sees in you! You beat Gaara, survived another battle with Orochimaru, and found a Hokage. I must see what power is within you!" Naruto shook his head, sighing.

"I'm not going to fight you, Sasuke. I'm sorry your brother came after me, I really am." Of course, Naruto was even more saddened that as Itachi and Kisame were from different places, yet had the same goal, the red clouds on black cloaks must mean something. And Konan was likely with them. Was she just fattening him up so he could be slaughtered?

Of course, Naruto knew that Ajisai was genuine – was she just a pawn in a larger scheme? What was Konan's angle, and where did Ajisai fit in the puzzle? Naruto needed to ponder that, and needed to figure out more about the cycle of reincarnation – what did temples say about it? How did the Shinigami fit in? What advantages were present when one figured out a point of past reincarnation? How could he leave his own mark for future reincarnates to follow?

Naruto had too many questions, and he needed to continue becoming stronger, he needed to make more tags to help out in Lee's surgery, and he needed to see Tenten. He quite literally didn't have the time for Sasuke's angst.

"You will fight me, Naruto!" Said Sasuke, sitting up, preparing to throw Sakura off of him. Naruto, fed up and tired, pulled out a tag and slapped it on Sasuke's forehead. The Sleep Tag worked best when applied to the face of the target, and Sasuke found himself returning to the land of dreams, but luckily would not find himself plagued by his past for this rest.

As he walked through Konoha after leaving the hospital, he started walking towards Tenten's home – she had given him her address, and the Uzumaki was wondering how Tenten would react to seeing her idol in the village, however unimpressive that idol might be some of the time.

As he arrived at Tenten's home, he knocked on the door, only to see it opened by an old man with a gray beard, with decades-old burn marks on his head.

"What do you want?" Asked the man, angrily. It seemed that he didn't have the memo about not treating Naruto as horribly as before, but Naruto was fine – he just had to get Tenten.

"Hello there, may I see Tenten-chan?" The man shook his head before trying to close the door in Naruto's face. Cursing as the door slammed into his foot, he asked where Tenten was. He received a shake of the head once again. As the door slammed once more into his foot, Naruto cried out in pain and heard a voice from inside.

"Tou-san? What's going on?" Naruto found the door opened once more, and Tenten was right before him, looking at the blood and bruises forming on his wounded foot, while the man, presumably her father, walked away.

"Naruto-kun! What happened to you?" Naruto pointed at the now-closed door, glaring at the wood.

"Some old fart. I asked him where you were, and he tried slamming it shut. I wanted to figure out where you were, and so…" Tenten could see where this was going. When it came to his friends, or at least to the bun-haired kunoichi and an Amegakure onion-haired genin, Naruto's stubbornness bordered on irrationality.

"That's probably my Tou-san. I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun. What did you want to find me for?" Naruto explained that Tsunade of the Sannin was back in the village, and that he knew she was very interested in seeing her.

"Anyhow, I just figured we could go and stop by, er, after a quick trip to the hospital." Observing the state of his foot, Tenten agreed and assisted Naruto on his way. As they walked in, Naruto ran across a familiar face.

"Shizune-neesan!" The short-haired woman looked around, seeing Naruto being supported by Tenten.

"Naruto-kun! What happened to your leg?" Naruto gave an embarrassed smile.

"Not my leg, nee-san. My foot got a door slammed on it." Waving away the receptionist and telling him that she would heal the boy, Shizune walked the two to an empty room and started the process of healing Naruto's foot, but Naruto made a few introductions first.

"Shizune-neesan, this is Tenten, one of my best friends. She's the one who helped me pick out the naginata, and has known me for a long time." Shizune smiled kindly at the mentioned girl, who smiled back.

"Hello there, Tenten-san. My name is Shizune, and I'm Tsunade-sama's apprentice. It's nice to meet you." Tenten smiled wide.

"Shizune-san, you work with Tsunade-sama? What is she like? Is she as amazing as the rumors say?" Naruto, thinking of Tsunade's face from when she had to pay a lottery's worth of money for damage costs, snickered. Shizune and Tenten ignored him, in a world of their own.

"She's a great medic, and someone who has endured a lot in her life." Naruto imagined Tsunade losing every bet for the last twenty-odd years, and laughed raucously, earning the ire of his doctor. Shizune slapped his injured foot briefly, before giving him a bone-chilling smile.

"Enough laughing, Naruto-kun. I know you'd hate having to be in the hospital for too long." Naruto's face paled as he remembered ranting to Shizune about how much he hated hospitals, and spilling a few of his escapades. Naruto nodded, and Tenten laughed, asking Shizune more questions about the future Godaime.

Eventually, Naruto was more or less healed, and Tenten now knew that Tsunade was in the process of setting up and decorating her new office in the Hokage building. As Tenten ran, half dragging Naruto by the arm she was holding, Naruto could only hope that he hadn't damaged his foot more from the run.

The two eventually stopped right outside the Hokage's tower, where they could hear a child shouting inside. Naruto, recognizing the voice, walked inside to see Kotetsu and Izumo standing outside of the Hokage's office.

"Honorable Grandson, you have to vacate this office! Tsunade-sama needs it to help the village!" Konohamaru's reply was yelled out from inside.

"Well good luck trying to get inside! I'm the grandson of the Sandaime, and I will protect his office! It's barricaded and booby trapped, so don't even try to get in!" Naruto sighed as Tenten joined the two gate-guards in yelling at Konohamaru, emphasizing the great skills of Tsunade. As he placed a hand on his head in exasperation, he saw Udon and Moegi run up to him, before showering him in concerns about what would happen when the shinobi got to their friend.

"Here, let me see what I can do." Said Naruto, looking at the door. As he walked up, the other three walked back, knowing that Naruto was something of a grandson to the old Third as well.

"Konohamaru, can I come in?" The young boy's voice rang out.

"Hell no! Not even you, Naruto-nii!" Naruto's eye twitched as he wondered where the young boy learned that language, but persisted.

"Why can't I come in, Kono? The Sandaime was my Jiji too, and-"

"And you let him die on the roof during the invasion! If you can't even save Jiji's life, why do you think I'm letting you into his office?" Tenten looked at Naruto warily, and saw his hand clench, eyes shadowed by his headband.

"I'm going to count to five, Kono. Don't make me come in there." As he knocked on the door again, pepper bombs and Tupperware came down from the ceiling. Dodging them, Naruto started counting, before he heard more footsteps coming. Looking, he saw Tsunade walking towards the office.

"Tsunade-baachan, please go easy on him! He's just a little kid, and he's grieving, please have mercy on him!" Begged Naruto. Konohamaru, now scared, considered that whatever was making Naruto ignore his remarks was not something to be trifled with. Was it too late to regret his actions, even if only to avoid punishment?

As the young boy prepared, he witnessed every trap get taken down in a matter of seconds – the traps outside the door were all dodged, the door was slammed open with a punch, sending desks, scrolls, and chairs flying everywhere, paper bombs were crinkled out using a masterful medic's chakra control, boulders were shattered, and Konohamaru watched in terror as the blonde woman walked closer to him.

Cowering, Konohamaru became aware of two things. First, Naruto had ran into the room after her, and was now standing protectively over the young boy. Second, the woman wasn't even going after him – she grabbed a book and walked out. Tenten watched the entire situation in awe, before rounding on Konohamaru.

"What was that all about, gaki? Tsunade-sama needs to heal people and use this office! You know my teammate is in a horrible state, right now? He needs every bit of help and Tsunade-sama can't get her texts to help him because _you_ are being stubborn." Naruto had a bit of a soft spot for the other child who called the Sandaime Jiji, but he also knew that Tenten was completely right, and he agreed with her. However, he wished she wasn't so hard on him.

"Let's have a chat, Kono." Said Naruto, before helping the boy up, putting a hand on his shoulder, and walking with him and Tenten outside the building, en route to the Sandaime Hokage's tomb. Konohamaru looked up at Naruto before nodding, keeping his eyes on the ground.

For his part, the Sarutobi grandson of the Sandaime was already feeling guilty for what he said to Naruto, and wanted nothing more than to melt into a puddle on the ground. However, all three people knew where they were heading, and Konohamaru's throat felt like it had been stretched across his entire airway.

Tenten, for her part, was curious how Naruto was holding up. He was in a horrible state before leaving, but was composed and controlled for the entire time – Naruto had mentioned going to a temple, but the kunoichi had done very little in terms of asking Naruto about his journey, or other important questions aside from 'how are you doing?' and Naruto had more or less gave a non-answer, furthering Tenten's uncertainty.

As the three reached the monument, Tenten drew back. Naruto, recognizing that she was giving him and Konohamaru space to talk privately, smiled and nodded. Before leaving, Naruto reminded her that Tsunade was still working on helping out Lee, and that perhaps she could help her. Tenten, seeing both an opportunity to help her teammate and get in the good graces of Tsunade-sama, left with zeal.

Sitting down in front of the tomb, the two boys stared at the name before Naruto told Konohamaru the story of the rooftop – sensing Orochimaru, fighting alongside his Jiji, facing down a weakened Shodai Hokage who was trying to resist control, but left out the fact that he used the Shinigami's seal to do the job.

Naruto knew very little about young children, but telling Konohamaru, who only had Asuma and the Sandaime as relatives, that his grandfather was in eternal torment within the Shinigami's body seemed a horrible idea.

"You know, your grandfather loved this village, he loved it more than most people will love the most important things in their lives." Konohamaru nodded, as the two stared straight ahead.

"I met him for the first time when I was younger than you are now, actually. He made it a point to visit the orphanage whenever he could, and one way or another, I got away with calling him 'Jiji.' Later, he was the one who helped me get an apartment and a stipend to live off of." Konohamaru looked up at Naruto in surprise, but Naruto was still looking ahead, seeing the past from within.

"He would go to the academy too - he loved to write little poems and share them with students. Most of us were too little or troublesome to do our part in listening, and I honestly wish I could remember them better. He was a wise man, your jiji. I think he saw what each person could be, and wanted them to reach the heights of their best selves."

"One day, my generation will be the face of Konoha, and then yours will be. I know Jiji always saw that potential in kids like you and me, even if no one else did." Konohamaru was listening to every word, but still cried a bit, before hugging Naruto.

"I'm sorry I said those things, Naruto-nii. I knew you didn't just let Jiji die, but are you sure people won't just forget him…" Naruto smiled, before patting his honorary brother's back.

"You know, when people are telling stories to the kids who didn't know him, they'll always talk about what a great man Jiji was. They'll talk about how he fought on the frontlines in two great wars while keeping Konoha safe in the third, they'll talk about how he oversaw and protected the village for generations, and they'll talk about how he cared for every kid in the village, whether you were his grandson or just a bratty orphan kid." Konohamaru looked up at Naruto again.

"Are you sure he won't be forgotten?" He sounded unsure.

"How about this, Kono? What if you say sorry for barricading her office, and then we make Tsunade-baachan promise that no one in this village will forget Jiji?" The young boy agreed, and they left, before running into Shizune, who was using Tonton's legendary sense of smell to track down their master. As they approached a building with the kanji for Sake on the outside, Naruto sighed, preparing to drag Konohamaru off.

"I'll tell her off, Naruto-kun. Don't send Sarutobi-kun away yet." Naruto nodded, and Shizune and Tonton walked inside. A few seconds later, hearing Shizune's cry of surprise, Naruto and Konohmaru entered to see Tsunade drinking a small cup of Sake, while pouring over medical texts. Sitting across from her was Tenten, who had a full, untouched cup of sake near her own books.

"Tsunade-sama! You're actually researching?" Tsunade fixed Shizune with a hard look.

" _Researching_ is what Jiraiya does – I'm studying on some medical techniques. I want to see if I can use something similar to Kabuto's techniques to stimulate Lee's body. Naruto's tags have increased the odds of a success, but the odds still aren't terribly high." Naruto looked at Tenten and smiled.

"Well, I'm glad you're doing your part, Tsunade-sama." Naruto nodded his thanks too. Konohamaru was hanging back, but he felt shock upon hearing Tsunade's next words.

"It can't really be helped. I am the Godaime Hokage, after all." The young Sarutobi remembered his grandfather saying similar words – would this Hokage be like his Jiji, serving the village tirelessly? He walked away, and felt a hand on his shoulder as he left.

"Why are you leaving, Kono? Don't you want to make the Godaime swear?" Konohamaru shook his head at Naruto.

"I don't need to. I'm Konohamaru of Konoha, and I'll make sure they remember him personally, even if it's just as the grandfather of the Rokudaime Hokage!" With that, he jumped off as Naruto sighed. It seemed that the crisis was averted, and he could return to his next bout of pouring over the notes he took, and going to the library to cross-reference as necessary.

 **Been looking over some of the newer stories, and wanted to give a couple recommendations:**

 **"The Moon is White" by UnknownRegion. I'm always a fan of time travel, and this individual's writing style is generally well done, along with their characterization of Hashirama in particular. Truth be told, it's drastically different from the types of stories I typically read in some ways, but it's a pleasant change of pace.**

 **"Through Your Door" by WaffleDogOfficial. Also a big fan of fics that center on the Jinchuriki. My thoughts on it are similar to "The Moon is White" - quite different, but nice as well.**


	21. Chapter 21: A Chunin's First Mission!

**Good morning. I have finished another chapter. Apologies for the delay on uploading.**

 **~KoS**

* * *

The next day, Naruto woke up to the sound of someone pounding on his door. Opening his eyes and later the door, he saw an ANBU member with long purple hair on the threshold.

"What is it, Anbu-san?" Naruto recognized her as a veteran of the squad that saved him many times as a child, so he made sure to be extra polite.

"The Godaime Hokage has summoned for you, Naruto-kun." As he allowed the ANBU to shunshin him into the Hokage's office, he saw Shikamaru present too, looking half-asleep at being forced to be awake so early.

"What's up, Shikamaru?" The lazy Nara looked at Naruto.

"Hey Naruto. Something seems to be going on, and it looks like it'll be troublesome." Naruto laughed, agreeing, before Tsunade cleared her throat, bringing both soldiers to her attention.

"Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto, the late Sandaime Hokage recommended that the two of you become chunin, and I have decided that the Sandaime's judgement was correct. Therefore, you both are chunin of this village. Go forth, and continue fighting for the village." Shikamaru took his jacket and grumbled off, but Naruto looked at it critically. Perhaps he could wear it once or twice, but most of his clothing favored light, agile movement, as opposed to the more bulky defense this provided. Of course, Naruto also had a Naginata, so perhaps having a defensive option of clothing wasn't bad at all.

That being said, Naruto's mind saw his team's reactions within his head – Sakura's inferiority complex would get worse, Kakashi might offload more leadership to him of all people, and Sasuke would likely become insufferable with Naruto being labelled as more capable by the village hierarchy.

For Tsunade's part, she looked in surprise (and mild disappointment) as both new chunin seemed unhappy with being promoted. What kind of genin was unhappy about their promotion?

"Why were we promoted, Tsunade-sama?" Asked Shikamaru.

"You were promoted for your tactical analysis, and Sarutobi-sensei figured that some responsibility might get you into shape." Said Tsunade, smirking at the Nara heir. She then turned towards Naruto, more pensive. "He recommended you because he figured you had all the traits a chunin needed, and the fact that you fought alongside him against a Sannin and two undead Hokage factored into the decision too, especially for those who saw. According to the ANBU who witnessed the battle, you fought like a lion, and risked Orochimaru's ire to defend Sarutobi-sensei." Naruto smiled sadly, but looked down at his vest.

Thanking Tsunade, Naruto left, wandering off towards one of the secluded training grounds, placing sensory tags everywhere to weed out anyone who could watch him, and practiced his Kamininjutsu. He was nearly at the point he needed to start working in earnest… But a blip started moving towards him from the village, and Naruto could sense who it was.

Sighing, Naruto released the jutsu he was working on and turned towards Sasuke, who walked out of the woodwork.

"Naruto! I heard you were promoted to chunin." He sounded angry, this wasn't going to end well.

"Yeah. I got promoted." Naruto knew that Sasuke would end up trying to fight him, but he didn't want to give away any techniques to his sharingan-wielding teammate. Naruto and Sasuke had fought side-by-side in numerous missions, but even that didn't spare the Uchiha from Naruto's frustration at times, particularly in terms of his technique copying.

"Fight me, Naruto. You got promoted, and I didn't even get a shot!" Naruto gave Sasuke a deadpan stare.

"You didn't even show up on time." Sasuke scoffed, and jumped down, pulling out a few shuriken.

"That doesn't matter, loser. I just need to figure out how strong you really are!" With that, teammate fought teammate, as Naruto used his naginata to block Sasuke's shuriken, his kunai, and then substituted out of his Katon ninjutsu.

As the fight continued, Sasuke started gaining an advantage, and this was for several reasons. Firstly, Sasuke was not a weakling, and as the fight devolved into taijutsu, the Uchiha had an advantage just based on his skillset. Secondly, Naruto was holding back those pieces of himself he kept secret from the Uchiha – Konan's taijutsu, most of his tag-based fuinjutsu and ninjutsu, and Kamininjutsu. Thirdly and finally, Naruto couldn't use his Kuchiyose, which he had spent weeks working on with Jiraiya.

With a kick from Sasuke, Naruto was on the ground once more, and Sasuke sneered down at his teammate, who stood up, before going through hand seals. Naruto, feeling the chakra rush towards Sasuke's hand, was shocked to see a weaker version of Kakashi's jutsu now hurtling towards him, Sasuke charging all the way.

Naruto dodged, but fell down once more, and Sasuke looked down at Naruto as his jutsu fizzled out.

"What was that about, loser? You're so weak, yet you became a chunin? What a joke." With that, Sasuke walked off, his cursed seal visible from his neck. Naruto sighed as Sasuke left, before turning towards an inconspicuous looking bush.

"Why don't you come out now?" Kakashi stepped out of the bush, pretending to be reading a book. Naruto turned his head toward another tree. "You too, Ero-sennin." With that, Jiraiya sighed and jumped down.

"What a technique you taught your brat, Kakashi." Jiraiya was laughing, but his eyes were serious. Kakashi looked rather serious too.

"Don't worry, Jiraiya-sama. I'm going to have a very long chat with dear Sasuke-kun about how he treats his teammates." Naruto almost felt bad for Sasuke, but he was feeling rather pissed off at having an assassination jutsu used during a spar with his teammate.

Naruto sighed and walked out, unhappy with the state of things.

The next day, after eating some food and getting dressed, he received a knock on the door, and he didn't know what to expect when he saw Shikamaru on the other side.

"Naruto, we have a mission, it's very important." Naruto blinked at Shikamaru, who elaborated.

"Sasuke has left the village, and he appears to be on route to Otogakure." Naruto's eyes widened in shock. What on earth? He knew Sasuke was going through some troubles at the moment, but leaving the village? Was he insane?

"What's the plan, Shikamaru?" The Nara looked out at the village.

"I'm going to assemble a squad of people we know to bring him back. This is my first mission as a chunin, and I'd like you to be my lieutenant." Naruto nodded, and grabbed one of his all-purpose scrolls, and his naginata.

"Let's go." With that, Shikamaru gathered three others: Choji, Kiba, and Neji. Along the way, they ran into Lee, who was being helped by Neji and Tenten before his big surgery, and Shino, who was wandering the village. Shino and Tenten promised to do whatever they could to keep the village safe while they waited for Lee's surgery to go underway.

Several minutes later, they were following the trail, with Kiba in the front, Naruto second, Shikamaru third, Choji fourth, and Neji fifth. Throughout the process of moving with his team, Naruto truly appreciated the differences that had overcome Neji recently – gone was the arrogant boy, in place was a determined young man, without the fixation on fate.

The five moved, and Naruto could only wonder what had possessed Sasuke to leave – why did he knock out Sakura the night before? Who had contacted Sasuke in the village to make him leave? Was this because of their fight? Naruto's guilt threatened to rear its ugly head again, but he kept his mind on the mission.

Eventually, the scents of the Oto-nin became stronger, and they determined that the group had just finished a fight of some kind. As such, Naruto and company ran to the battle site, and found a group of wounded Jonin and Chunin, including Genma, the proctor of the third round.

"Genma-senpai, what happened to you all?" Genma looked up, heavily wounded.

"Those four who fought us, they were on Jonin level! They have the cursed seals of Orochimaru!" Naruto's eyes darkened, and he resolved to do whatever he could – not only for Sasuke's sake, but also to give Orochimaru as much difficulty as he could. Pulling out Shosen tags, he gave a few to each of the Jonin, and Shizune, who was also in the battle, for the sake of using them in conjunction with her own healing.

As the five continued on, they approached the enemy camp – four people, and Sasuke inside a coffin, but as for what was going on inside, no one could tell aside from the smoke and seals coming out of it. Unfortunately, the next minute or so would see them found out, and trapped in a dome by their largest opponent – an orange-haired male with an affinity for Doton ninjutsu.

"Well, what's the plan, Shikamaru?" Asked Neji, watching as Kiba and Akamaru threw themselves against the earthen, regenerating walls.

"Neji, can you see where that Oto-nin is?" The Hyuuga activated his Byakugan, and identified the man's exact location.

"Alright. Choji, Kiba, and Naruto, can you attack the wall opposite of him at full power?" The three nodded, and between explosive tags, Choji's Nikudan Sensha, and Kiba's Gatsuga, they shattered the wall. As the five shinobi and one ninken jumped out of the wall, they looked at the man, who seemed weaker – breathing heavily and still sporting minor injuries from his last battle.

"I don't think we can afford to all focus on defeating him. We need someone to stop him so that the rest of us can keep moving." Neji's analysis was right in Naruto's mind – they needed all five people, four to defeat the nin, and one to either defeat Sasuke, or assist in ending one of the other battles, creating a snowball effect on the battlefield.

"Not a bad idea, but it won't work anyway. You're all just following a no-good loser!" Choji looked angry at this.

"Let me deal with it, Shikamaru." Shikamaru turned to Choji, who was determined. "We need to recover Sasuke, and you know I can win this battle." Shikamaru's mind turned to Choji's pills, which he knew the Akimichi could use in life or death situations.

"What the hell are you doing, Choji? You can't defeat a guy like that!" Yelled Kiba. Shikamaru looked straight at Choji, weighing the costs.

"I believe in Choji. Alright, just don't you dare use the red pill!" Choji shrugged, and urged the others to move on. As the four shinobi, who were admittedly much swifter than Choji at full speed moved forward, they were once again closing in on the others. Along the way, Shikamaru left markers for Choji to follow – etchings into trees and such, while the others wrote encouraging messages.

As they reached the enemy shinobi, Naruto, who was most proficient with the Henge, imitated the large man named Jirobo.

"Took you longer than expected, fatso." Naruto looked at who had spoken – a rather angry-looking young woman with brown eyes and red hair.

"They took longer than anticipated." Said Naruto, trying to discern if they believed him or not.

"About time you showed up, fatty. I didn't want to carry this much longer." Said another shinobi – a four-armed boy with a hairstyle extremely reminiscent of Shikamaru's. Naruto responded.

"Uh, sorry. Luckily they're all dead now." Naruto saw the girl and the other figure – a young man with two identical heads – look to each other. Naruto could almost guarantee he had been found out, and this was confirmed when the spider-like boy threw the casket to the two-headed one, and turned, throwing explosive tags at 'Jirobo'. Dispelling the Henge, Naruto avoided the blasts, as the other Konoha shinobi turned up.

"Kidomaru, stall them!" And just like that, another one versus one battle raged on: Neji versus the now-named Kidomaru.

Soon, it was four Konoha-nin, including Akamaru, versus three Oto-nin, who still had Sasuke's coffin with them.

"Brother, we'll have to use the Rashomon to stall them." Ukon said to Sakon. Thus, they threw the coffin to their last teammate.

"What the hell was that for, you creepy twins?" They fixed her with a look.

"We are the only ones who can stall them from this point – you have to make sure Sasuke gets to Orochimaru-sama, Tayuya!" She looked unhappy but still nodded, before continuing on, carrying the coffin. Then, Sakon and Ukon split apart, preparing to take on two shinobi.

"Not quite! Jujin Bunshin!" With that, Akamaru was transformed into a copy of Kiba by his partner, and the two engaged the twins. "We're definitely the better combo, you creeps! Keep going, Naruto, Shikamaru!" With that, the last two headed out, leaving Kiba and Akamaru to their battle.

"Naruto, I think I'm going to immobilize that girl. Can you deal with bringing Sasuke back?" Naruto nodded, but before he did, Tayuya stopped in her tracks.

"Why is he here?" As Shikamaru jumped closer, he saw another figure approaching – a white-haired young man with a cold demeanor.

"Tayuya, give me the coffin."

"Kimimaro, what the hell are you doing? You'll die out here!" Kimimaro looked at Tayuya.

"You will stall, or you will die. Your choice." Tayuya turned around, and Shikamaru threw a kunai or two at her, forcing her to move long enough for Naruto to follow their newest foe, Kimimaro.

With that, the Sound Four found themselves in battles against Naruto's teammates, where everything would go on the line.

* * *

 **Next upload should be within the next couple weeks. Past two weeks have been hectic to say the least.**


	22. Chapter 22: The Sound Five Fight!

**Hello folks! Just wanted to say thanks for the support on recent chapters, and give a minor update on life - things were very busy for the past month or so, but I am happy to say that I have a momentary rest before things get hectic again with college. I have a question that I'm curious about at the end of this chapter.**

 **EDIT (8/9/19): Thanks to Shadow Thorn6 for helping me find an error in the chapter. Choji does NOT "shed years", as the original submission of this chapter would have you believe.**

 **~KoS**

* * *

Choji and Jirobo were rather similar, in terms of strengths and body type – both focused on high strength, low speed attacks. Both were more or less rotund, and larger rather than tall. As for behaviors, they were nothing alike.

Choji was always known for his kindness – being a compassionate, sensitive child in his youth, one of Naruto's earliest friends, and Shikamaru's closest friend and ally. As such, even though Naruto was Shikamaru's lieutenant, Shikamaru knew that Choji had great strength within him, and simultaneously believed in him the most and feared for him the most.

At first, Choji was being pushed back, but he turned the tides easily enough with the Spinach Pill, one of the Akimichi Clan's specialty pills for converting fat into extremely powerful chakra. Grabbing Jirobo, he threw him with the strength that few had seen in him, aside from Shikamaru and Asuma.

"I'm not letting you win. I'm going to beat you here and now, and then help Shikamaru and the others!" As Choji charged with his Nikudan Sensha lined with kunai, he felt himself being stopped, and saw that a set of black lines had appeared on Jirobo's skin, coming from the cursed seal that Shikamaru had briefed them on during the initial pursuit.

With the first stage of the Cursed Seal came a great deal of pain for Choji, complimented by the huge internal pain caused by the pill's side effect. Jirobo smashed into Choji over and over again, before throwing him into a tree.

"What a useless tub of lard. No wonder your loser of a leader allowed what you did." Choji frowned, not understanding.

"What do you mean?" Jirobo gave the Akimichi heir a cruel grin.

"In every team of five, there is a weak link, someone who isn't quite as good or the others, or as close to the rest. Those people are the ones tossed away to buy time for the others, because _everyone_ knows they are expendable." For a second, Choji bought Jirobo's words, and that was enough time for the large Oto-nin to slam into him, landing a nasty punch to the Akimichi's face.

"But…" Choji still felt weak, but then allowed himself to eat the Curry Pill, increasing his strength dramatically. Charging forward, he smashed into Jirobo repeatedly – in the chest, in the stomach, on the shoulder, in the face, and so on. Eventually, he crushed Jirobo beneath his hand, at which point he could feel something was horribly wrong – Jirobo wasn't being crushed anymore. Had his strength grown even more?

"You won't win this time, loser!" He rammed into Choji again, and the Akimichi felt his strength draining again, and felt immense fatigue in his muscles. Was this the cost of the yellow curry pill?

Choji looked up at his opponent, who now looked entirely different – reddish-orange skin, black sclera, and a full head of hair marked the changes that the man had went under due to his cursed seal's second stage.

"Sorry, Shikamaru…" Said Choji. "It looks like I can't hold anything back." With that, the young boy popped the last pill into his mouth, and the transformation this caused was notable. In a second, all of Choji's fat was consumed and turned into chakra, shown by the massive butterfly wings caused by the blue energy of shinobi.

Jirobo tried to punch Choji, but he couldn't land a hit, as Choji smacked him into a tree, and collecting all of his chakra into one hand.

"You called my best friend a loser. That's unforgivable." Jirobo now realized the gravity of his situation.

"Please! I'll do anything, I'll spill the information on my teammates!" Choji laughed.

"You were right when you said I'm the weakest of us five, so what makes you think your teammates have any chance of winning? I'll let my final act speak for itself, and send you to the afterlife!" With that, Choji punched the man with all of his chakra, killing the Oto-nin instantly.

As Choji coughed, feeling that his strength was now completely eroded, he walked into the forest, following a butterfly. Reaching a tree, he saw the messages of encouragement written, from all of his teammates. Remembering his father's words about friends who would believe in him and cherish him, the Akimichi shed a few tears, before sitting down and exhaling, letting his consciousness fade.

* * *

Neji was not having a fun time. With his Byakugan he could see and deflect arrows, but he had no ranged combat methods for defeating his opponent. As this battle continued, Neji was forced into using his Kaiten repeatedly – deflecting arrows became difficult, and then Neji heard something heart-stopping.

"Looks like those eyes of yours have a blind spot, eh?" If this enemy knew about his blind spot, how on earth could he win? Struggling more, Neji started taking more wounds, and before long, four arrows had embedded themselves in his back. Breaking the shafts off of them, Neji decided there was only one way to win – baiting his opponent.

Allowing himself to get shot once more, Neji collapsed, feigning death. Kidomaru, who had activated his cursed seal at the second level in order to put more power into his shots, jumped down and laughed at Neji.

"Game over, kid." As soon as Kidomaru was right next to Neji, the latter sprung up, throwing a few palm strikes at the spider-guy.

"Sorry, I figured that was your strategy!" Said Kidomaru, now using his Kumo Nenkin to make more arrows, and a sword made of… whatever it was made of. "Now, you're dead!" Neji didn't think that Kidomaru was wrong, but to his surprise, a set of blades came flying out of nowhere, and once the Hyuuga's vision stopped blurring from blood loss, he was shocked to see his teammate battling Kidomaru with all of her strength – switching from ball and chain to naginata to katana back to sickle and chain, and before long, Kidomaru had been impaled by a spear, having used up too much chakra to amplify his defenses. As the spider-man-thing collapsed, Tenten rushed towards Neji.

"Here, let me heal you, Neji." Neji collapsed forward into Tenten's arms, and allowed her to remove the arrowheads, placing some of Naruto's signature Shosen tags on the wounds. Neji, remembering these were Naruto's tags, found himself in Naruto's debt again.

Naruto had not only shown Neji the error of his ways and helped him down a better path, he had given the Hyuuga clan's branch family hope for a united future, and now his inventions were saving Neji's life. Speaking of showing Neji the error of his ways…

"Thank you Tenten… I'm sorry." Tenten's eyes widened.

"What for? You think I'm going to let you die in order to get my own battlefield time?" Neji shook his head.

"No, but… I'm sorry I've treated you badly. You and Lee have been the greatest teammates I could ask for, and I've treated you both like trash. I'm…" Tenten smiled down at Neji, whose head was bowed in shame, eyes closed.

"I know, Neji. Trust me." Neji said nothing, but allowed Tenten to heal him once more, as he mused his thoughts, before he heard rustling. Opening his eyes, he was shocked to see Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara standing there.

While Konoha had been extremely lenient with Sunagakure, given that they _had_ planned on betraying their alliance, they had still fought on Konoha's side during the invasion. Still…

"What are you guys doing here?" Asked Neji, trying to hide his weakness in the event of a fight.

"Relax, white-eyes. We're here to bail you guys out, after all." Neji contemplated his words, before looking back.

"Wait, has someone found the result of Choji's battle?" Tenten nodded.

"Shino detected his chakra in a battlefield, so he went to recover Choji. Whatever he was doing, he wasn't pulling any punches – his chakra was scattered all over the place." Neji idly hoped that Choji had survived his battle, but found his thoughts slowing down and body unresponsive to his mental commands. It seemed that his blood loss and chakra exhaustion had finally caught up to him. Before the light faded from the Hyuga's eyes, he heard again the promise of Naruto Uzumaki, and pulled forth another memory – his first time seeing Team 7, together as they should be.

"Tenten, make sure you help Naruto…" And those were the last words Neji spoke, before he fell completely unconscious.

With that, the three Suna nin fanned out to assist in the remaining battles – Kankuro to Kiba, Temari to Shikamaru, and Gaara to Naruto.

* * *

Naruto looked at Kimimaro – the two had briefly engaged in a taijutsu battle, but it seemed their fight would transition more into the realm of weapons and tactics – Kimimaro's bone blade versus Naruto's naginata, Kimimaro's bone bullets versus Naruto's kunai, the last of the Kaguya versus the only man who could claim to be an apprentice of Konan _and_ Jiraiya.

Slash, slash, dodge, block. Kunai, kunai, roll, substitute. The series of actions continued, as Naruto wondered how long it would take to get ahold of that coffin. Just as he feared that Sasuke might actually be dead, the coffin's top exploded, and Sasuke ran out, cursed seal in level one form.

"Sasuke!" Yelled Naruto, trying to run towards him, but blocked by Kimimaro.

"Uchiha, continue past the Valley of the End. Orochimaru-sama will meet you and train you from there." Naruto glared at Kimimaro, but luckily was allowed to pursue the Uchiha after an unexpected reinforcement showed up.

"Naruto-kun! I have recovered from my injury and am here to help!" Naruto was shocked and happy at the voice.

"Lee! You got better!" He gave a gleaming smile to the Jinchuriki.

"Yes! And your tags made sure to restore my youthfulness before and after the surgery! I will deal with this unyouthful Oto-nin and allow you to recover Sasuke-san!" Naruto smiled, and dashed away, leaving Lee, watching as he drank from something that looked one hell of a lot like Sake container.

* * *

At the edge of a river, Kiba sighed in relief as he saw the terrifying twins trapped inside of Kankuro's Iron Maiden, writing and screaming in pain. Perhaps falling down that cliff and wading through that river had proven useful… somehow.

"Looks like you needed a hand, eh?" Kiba gave a smirk to Kankuro, who was now resealing his puppets and looking over at Kiba and Akamaru's wounds.

"Yeah, just a little. Thanks for the backup." Kankuro nodded and wrapped bandages, making use of his extremely limited medical knowledge to help Kiba, who grunted in thanks.

* * *

On another battlefield, Shikamaru struggled – his shadow was weakening, this girl's cursed seal had influenced her being, and now she was staring him down, overpowering his trademark jutsu. What strategy could he use? As the shadow lessened more, Tayuya could move her arm, and prepared to slam the kunai into him, before being blasted away by a gust of wind.

"And who the hell are you?" Asked Tayuya, angrily. Shikamaru looked at the back of Temari's head, someone he had fought alongside during the invasion of Konoha, who always seemed willing to throw Shikamaru's strategies under the bus.

"We're allies of Konoha – Shinobi of Sunagakure!" With that, Shikamaru watched in shock as Temari summoned a weasel, and used her immense skill in Fuuton ninjutsu to cut down half of a forest, crushing Tayuya under. Of course, they could still hear her shouting in pain.

"Troublesome. Should we bring her back?" Asked Shikamaru, looking at Temari, who grinned at him.

"Not my decision – you're the chunin here, aren't you?" Shikamaru was flustered at this, but still decided to dig up the half-dead Tayuya – perhaps she would have some use during interrogation.

"You fucking bastards! You would dare bury me and then dig me up?" Temari looked at the redhead in ire.

"At least he decided to spare your life. If you'd like, we could just kill you outright." This served to shut Tayuya up for at least a minute or two, but admittedly not much longer, as she complained her way back to the village. As Shikamaru looked behind him towards the place where Naruto ran off to, he could only hope that his fellow chunin and old friend could recover Sasuke.

"You really shouldn't worry about him, you know." Said Temari, who was watching Shikamaru. When the Nara gave her a suspicious look, she elaborated. "That Lee fellow high-tailed it towards the battlefield, him and this Tenten kunoichi were deployed before we were. Plus, Gaara is going to help Naruto and Lee out." Shikamaru remembered the catastrophic powers of Gaara, and decided to leave the battle in his hands.

"Thanks." He said to Temari, before the two started marching at double time.

* * *

Lee found himself being saved from Kimimaro's devastating strike by a burst of sand.

"Gaara-kun!" Yelled Lee in surprise.

"Rock Lee, I am here to help you." Lee was nervous, and Gaara saw this clearly.

"Lee-san, I promise I will not harm you in any way during this battle. Naruto has shown me the way, and I will use my strength to its fullest to support you." Lee's eyes softened, remembering Neji's transformation too.

"Alright. Let's smash them with the power of our Konoha-Suna alliance, Gaara-kun!" Gaara nodded, and readied his sand to face the Kaguya in a battle that Oto could never win.

* * *

 **Question: For those who are also writing fics, what is the most odd PM subject you've seen before? Going back through my what, 4-5 years-ish on this site, I found a few wild ones. Let me know!**


	23. Chapter 23: The End of Team 7

**Hello. I'm excited - we're almost at the end of the pre-shippuden Naruto in canon! Hopefully you find the following to be enjoyable, and hopefully I can get more to you soon. Nervous about school starting up again soon, but what can you do?**

* * *

Naruto ran towards Sasuke, who was now standing on the statue of Uchiha Madara at the Valley of the End. Jumping on the statue of Hashirama, Naruto stared across and saw his teammate looking back at him – Naruto didn't know how, but he wondered, how could this battle take place anywhere _else_?

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled at his brother. Wait, brother? In what world was Sasuke his…

"So, you're the one they sent after me. Hopeless little Naruto, are you going to be the one who brings me back to Sakura?" Naruto remembered his teammate's tearful request to bring the final member of Team 7 back. Naruto may have gotten over his crush a long time ago, but he was still loyal to Sakura, to his team, his _family_.

"Yeah. They sent me. Are you going to keep running away like a coward, Sasuke?" The Uchiha stopped and turned around, and Naruto's heart sank upon seeing the cursed marks, and the demonic appearance of his right eye.

"Are you going to keep chasing after me, despite having no hope? Sooner or later, you will die, Naruto." Naruto sighed, looking at Sasuke.

"I'm not going to let you go, Sasuke. Until I can't move anymore, I'll continue fighting. You will return to Konoha, Sasuke. Mark my words." Sasuke's eyes widened, before his face settled into an arrogant smirk that Naruto felt he had seen a thousand times.

"Naruto." Said Sasuke, looking at the Uzumaki. "Are you really going to fight me?" Naruto nodded, but Sasuke's cursed seal began to withdraw for now, meaning his full strength was about to be online.

"I don't know what you're playing at, Sasuke, but you won't leave the village. Not on my watch!" Sasuke scoffed, but paid attention as Naruto jumped across from the Hashirama to the Madara statue. With that, Sasuke and Naruto threw punches. Naruto's taijutsu was vastly inferior, but his tricky nature, kunai skills, and variety of tags made themselves known.

Jumping back into the river made by the waterfall, Sasuke's eyes burned as one of Naruto's newest creations, the Pepper Tag, made itself known. Wiping the burning material out of his eyes, Sasuke's sharingan flared to life far too late, taking three separate punches from Naruto.

Refusing to let Naruto dictate the pace of this battle, Sasuke activated his Ten no Juin at level one, before replying to Naruto's offensive with a powerful one of his own. Before long, Sasuke had landed five separate hits on Naruto with his hands and feet, and even one with his elbow.

Charging, the Uchiha went through hand seals before throwing his hand forward, now covered in lightning. The attack, which Sasuke had been explicitly told to never use on comrades, now punched through his best friend and teammate.

Naruto's eyes widened, and his irises turned red, pupils becoming canine slits. As Sasuke prepared to drop Naruto, he felt a burning sensation on the arm that was currently inside of the Uzumaki – a fiery chakra had come out of Naruto, and Sasuke could see the image of a great fox behind him. What on earth was this power? Where did it come from?

In a matter of milliseconds, Naruto had reversed the battle – his wound healed, and he smashed Sasuke across the valley, and he followed up that strike with three more, until Sasuke landed in the foot of Madara's statue. As Naruto followed up with one final strike, he found it blocked… by wings?

Naruto looked in horror at Sasuke's second level of the Cursed Seal – once black hair was now a grayish blue, his skin was grey and purple, and disgusting hand-like wings had sprouted from Sasuke's body. Additionally, both sclera were black, and his Sharingan were now turned on in their full glory. Truly, Sasuke was at full strength at this point, and Naruto couldn't afford to do anything less than use his own powers.

"Like what you see, Naruto? I'm not playing around anymore." Naruto scoffed, as he formed the bird seal.

"I should be asking that to you, Sasuke. You think I'm playing around at this point? Orochimaru is going to take over your body and use it as a skin!" The Uchiha was shocked to find a jutsu he couldn't copy – what the hell was that? Why were paper wings forming behind Naruto, cloaked with the same red chakra? His naginata was in hand once more, and Naruto looked the part of a fallen angel, with his red chakra contrasting with his dark clothes, his long weapon, and the strange, fake-looking wings.

"Is this what you were holding back, Naruto?" Asked Sasuke, foully. Naruto nodded, and moved forward once more, shocking Sasuke with his speed. Slashing repeatedly, Naruto found his mark, leaving long cuts across Sasuke's chest and leg, and another gash on one of his wings. Sasuke, realizing he had one shot left, put all of his chakra into his wings and a new chidori, black and white from the Juin's influence.

As Naruto had a sensory tag on himself from the initial conflict with Jirobo, he could see Sasuke's chakra – blue, with a little bit of green and purple. The green chakra was identical to the chakra within Jiraiya, and the purple was akin to the chakra he had sensed within Orochimaru and all of his higher-up subordinates, likely from that cursed seal.

With that, the two charged into battle, Naruto's Kyuubi-enhanced Naginata versus Sasuke's Juin-enhanced Chidori. Their strikes stayed neutral against each other long enough for Naruto to see a vision: him and Sasuke fighting once more, but their forms were colossal – a dull-colored form of brown from Naruto, and a great blue flame form for Sasuke. Blades and arms, dragons and foxes, their wills clashed.

As this vision came and immediately faded, Naruto's focus was off for just a half second, and that was long enough for Sasuke's chidori to shatter Naruto's naginata, and pierce his lung. Had it been slightly closer, the Uzumaki would have instantly died.

Naruto, for his part, was shocked again: where did these visions come from? Why did they arise? Whom did they benefit? First the echoes, then the brotherly sentiment, and then _literal_ visions. Where the _hell_ did these things come from?

Of course, Naruto's naginata left its own mark – cutting across Sasuke's headband, the younger's headband now matched the elder's – a slashed leaf.

A few seconds later, as Sasuke looked at Naruto, who had now fallen unconscious, he observed the strange sheets of paper, which dispersed from the wing-like state along with the Kyuubi chakra – what type of jutsu was this, if he couldn't even comprehend it with his Sharingan? Resolving to deal with it later, Sasuke dropped his headband by Naruto, and walked away, as he witnessed Naruto's wound begin to heal itself.

As he walked into the forest, he vowed to comprehend Naruto's strange power, and grow strong enough to kill Itachi. Preventing Orochimaru from taking over his body seemed like a good plan too.

* * *

Unseen by any of the fighters, a rather bizarre being was watching the battle – two half-humans smashed into one, with a Venus fly trap and Akatsuki cloak surrounding it. Zetsu may not have the greatest combat abilities within the Akatsuki, but its ability to sneak around and record what it saw was beyond anything the others could do, with the possible exception of Itachi's genjutsu.

And what it saw would be very interesting to the fellows of the Akatsuki – now where had Naruto learned a variant of the Shikigami no Mai?

* * *

Kakashi followed the instructions of Pakkun, who led him to the Valley of the End. Seeing the signs of chakra thrown about everywhere, the Hatake found Naruto alone, with several healing wounds, the shattered remains of his naginata, and Sasuke's discarded headband, with a slash through it. Sighing, Kakashi picked up his student and the headband, and departed back to the village, as per Pakkun's directions.

As he went through the trees, Kakashi pondered the series of events that had preceded this – how long had Sasuke intended to leave the village for? Was it a long time, and Orochimaru gave him that option, or was it a more recent development? How did Naruto heal such wounds – was it the Kyuubi, or something else? And even more importantly, what techniques levelled the playing field between the cursed seal _and_ chidori? Kyuubi's chakra had to be a part of it, but that couldn't be all of it.

It was strange: Kakashi had previously seen his team as an incarnation of his own – Naruto as Obito, Sasuke as Kakashi, and Sakura as Rin, but this made Kakashi intensely uncomfortable now – would he ever seriously try to kill Obito and leave the village? Never. Rather, Kakashi realized, his squad was more like the Sannin, or, if the metaphor were strictly extended to Naruto and Sasuke, they could even be considered something akin to the Shodai and Madara Uchiha.

Yes, Kakashi figured, this metaphor worked best for thinking about his squad: strong but volatile Uchiha leaves the village where he is well-loved, and his best friend, a Senju (or relative of that ancient clan) fights him to a standstill, until only one leaves. Of course, there were a number of pieces that didn't fit, but Kakashi was starting to see a strength in Naruto that was far greater than his previous power.

"Kaka-sensei…" Murmured Naruto from the Jonin's back.

"It's alright, Naruto. I got you." Naruto's face was still pressed to Kakashi's flak jacket.

"Sasuke… gone?" Kakashi grunted in affirmation. Naruto was silent for a minute or so.

"Others?" Kakashi looked down at his student, whose face was still invisible.

"Alive. Some are worse than others, but your comrades are all alive, due to the help of some key allies. You already know about Lee, but Tenten and some shinobi from Suna came to help out. I think you know them from the exams: Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara." Naruto smiled, happy to hear.

"Glad they're alive… will everyone recover?" Kakashi didn't respond, and Naruto didn't press on further, but dozed off sometime between then and arriving in the village.

Upon reaching the hospital, Kakashi was introduced to pure pandemonium – Naruto, Neji, and Choji were all in urgent care wards, with the lattermost in a near-death state. Neji, though his wounds were bad, wasn't quite at the same level due to Tenten's help.

As for the others, they got out with more or less minor wounds. Shikamaru had a broken finger and some chakra exhaustion, but he was alright. As for Kiba and Akamaru, they had bad wounds, but nothing life-threatening. Akamaru was being treated like the prince of all pups at the Inuzuka clan's land, while Kiba was kept in a hospital room to recover from his own moderate injuries. Lee had sustained no damage, thanks to the protection of Gaara.

* * *

As Naruto was escorted into a room, his wounds were all bandaged, and Naruto was more-or-less kept to his bed. Several days later, Shikamaru came in when Naruto was awake, and the latter could tell the Nara held immense guilt within himself.

"How are things, Shikamaru?" Asked Naruto kindly. The Nara gave a grunt before responding.

"You're actually seeing me more composed than I was when you all got here. That Temari from Suna was watching me cry, and my oyaji chewed me out for being a coward." Naruto put a hand on Shika's shoulder, silently giving support to his old friend.

"Hey, at least everyone's still alive, right?" Shikamaru nodded.

"Choji's gonna be fine, so is Neji. The others weren't wounded as bad as you were." Naruto chuckled, and spoke words of encouragement to the Nara:

"You know, I don't hold any of this against you. You did everything you could, fought in your own battle, and have your own wounds, even if they aren't as rough as some of ours. Neji's become a good guy, and I doubt he holds it against you, and can you even imagine Choji holding this against you? He stayed behind because that fatso who trapped us was talking smack about you." Shikamaru nodded, and Naruto told him to close the door.

"Want to visit the others? I bet Choji would love to see you." Shikamaru perked up at that, but looked at Naruto's bandages.

"And how are you going anywhere?" Naruto chuckled, before pulling most of them off. Shikamaru was surprised to see most of his wounds healed, with the exception of the Juin-enhanced Chidori strike. Naruto also kept some of the bandages on his face and head present too.

"I heal fast, that's how. And we're going to be sneaky too – if Shizune-nee sees me, she'll chain me to this bed or something crazy like that. We're going to see Choji and Neji, and you'll see that you're wrong for blaming yourself." Shikamaru was touched at Naruto's commitment, and the two managed to sneak into Choji's room, but not before running into Temari.

"Oh? A runaway patient and the Nara crybaby?" Both could tell she was joking, but they really needed her to be quiet.

"Oi, oi, now really isn't the time to be troublesome. If the hospital staff catch me helping Naruto sneak out, I'll end up staying here longer than both of them put together!" Temari gave a light chuckle, and promised to stay quiet. As the two Konoha chunin thanked her, she watched them leave, or more specifically, watched the Nara. He was quite the character, after all.

The young Akimichi was currently eating a huge variety of foods, ranging from a mind-boggling selection of chips to one of the few and far between takeout orders from Yakiniku Q, who wanted to wish one of their best patrons a swift recovery, and an assortment of dumplings that looked to be from the restaurant Tenten and Naruto visited that one time.

"Shikamaru, Naruto! Come in, come in." Naruto held a finger to his lips to urge the Akimichi to stay quiet, and Choji nodded, before gesturing to close the door.

"How are you healing, Choji?" Asked Naruto, looking at the food.

"I haven't eaten this well in a very, very long time." Said Choji, with the seriousness of a true food lover. "The fact that I can supplement Yakiniku Q with dumplings and my favorite chips makes the world much better!" Naruto laughed wholeheartedly, while Shikamaru looked still uncomfortable – he had seen Choji's emaciated state when he entered the hospital, and was sure that close call would haunt him for days to come. Choji, ever observant when it came to his best friend, saw this.

"Ne, Shikamaru, don't feel bad. Things were close, but they always will be as shinobi, right?" Shikamaru was lightly shaking, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Yeah, I guess…" Naruto could see that Shikamaru was slipping, and decided to lighten the mood.

"Don't worry, Shikamaru. If you won't listen to us that everything is more or less alright, I'm sure we can get your girlfriend to cheer things up. I didn't know you were into such _striking_ women, Shikamaru." The young Nara was speechless from that reply, and even more speechless when he heard another reply.

"He gets it from me, as troublesome as it is. Nara men are many things, but they can't resist the charm of the women who eventually become the matriarchs." Shikamaru turned to see his father standing there, smirking down at his flabbergasted son.

"O…Oyaji?" Shikaku Nara laughed. "I'm sure your Kaa-san will have a lot to say when she hears her little Shika has a crush, and on someone a couple years older than him too!" Choji and Naruto were happy to see Shikamaru out of his guilt-filled stupor, but the young Nara knew he was in for a world of _mendokuse_ when his mother thought he had a crush. As the Nara talked with Choji some more, Naruto decided to head out and wander the village, wondering what he would find.

* * *

 **Question: What is your favorite type of dumpling? Where I live, there's a restaurant that does phenomenal XLB, pork & veggie Baozi, and I love their pork and leek steamed dumplings. What are your favorites? For a more story-related question - do you have any theories for how canon will be deviated from in future chapters? What are some of your guesses? I'd love to hear your thoughts.**

 **~KoS**


	24. Chapter 24: Departure

**Hello friends. Long time no see. I can now safely say a few things. Firstly, I love thanksgiving... even if my digestive system doesn't. Secondly, glad to post again. I made a couple small QoL changes to this chapter, but I've mostly left it in its original form. Thirdly, I've now received a couple of spam PMs. Who knew that writing 'The Orphan' made me a sexy lad in the eyes of catfishing robots? As always, grateful for the feedback & reviews, especially from Antex the Legendary Zoroark, who has been along for the ride since the early days. With that out of the way, let's get this chapter rolling!**

Naruto walked throughout the various areas of Konoha surrounding the hospital, and after finishing something he had meant to do for a long time, was pleased to see a familiar redhead walking by.

"Gaara!" Said redhead turned towards Naruto, and smiled.

"Naruto. I'm glad I got to see you before I left your village." Looking around, he saw that Gaara wasn't alone – that redheaded prisoner that had been brought from Otogakure was present, and she looked absolutely terrified at being restrained by one of Gaara's, or rather Shukaku's, sealing jutsu.

"I'm glad I got to see you too. So, that Oto-nin belongs to Suna now, I take it?" Gaara nodded.

"We're going to get as much information from her as we can, then figure out what to do with her." Naruto found this to be a suitable enough answer, and so he and Gaara decided to go to Ichiraku's, leaving Tayuya in the hands of Kankuro.

"The two of them won't stop cursing at each other. You wouldn't believe the ruckus they've caused despite not knowing each other longer than a week." Naruto laughed at Gaara's deadpan nature, before placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. As the two of them sat down at Ichiraku's, Naruto kept his hood up the entire time.

"I'm not supposed to be out of the hospital, you see. Luckily, I don't think anyone actually knows that I'm-"

"Naruto!" Gaara allowed a wry smile to appear on his face at the irony, as they both turned to see Tenten approaching, a mixture of relief and annoyance on her face. "What are you doing out of the hospital?" Naruto looked around, and it seemed that no one was aware he was there. Pulling Tenten into the stand and buying her a bowl of ramen, they sat down.

"Sorry about that, Ten-chan. It's just… the hospital food is not good – it's a boring mush. I wasn't going to recover eating that stuff!" Tenten's eye twitched – not eating 'boring' food sounded dumb, like something Gai or Lee would do. Still, at least Naruto was safe and sound, right? She sighed.

"I was just in your hospital room, and decided not to tell anyone just in case you were pulling some stupid stunt like that. Imagine if I was wrong, and you had seriously hurt yourself?" Naruto laughed, flustered, and Gaara looked intrigued.

"Sugoi!" He said, quietly. When Naruto looked at him questioningly, he didn't answer, leading Naruto to believe they would talk again after Tenten left.

"Yeah, anyway, I figured I'd pick up some ramen. Sorry for worrying you." He said, putting a hand on her shoulder. Tenten crossed her arms, looking ahead.

"It's a bit late for that, Naruto. It seems like every time I see you, you've nearly died in some way. First it was fighting in the battle against Oto, and then it was fighting Orochimaru and Kabuto in Tanzaku Gai, and now Sasuke pierces you with an assassination jutsu…" Naruto was surprised she knew all this – he generally kept the details that would worry her to himself.

"Where did you hear the details about that?" Tenten fixed him with a very sharp look, making Naruto wish he could backtrack entirely.

"Oh, surprised that I know the truth? Don't even get me started, Naruto! In answer to your question, Tsunade-sama and I had to talk about something when we were looking up things for Lee's surgery, and the topic of your sheer _idiocy_ came up more than once." Naruto tried to offer a placating expression, but it seemed that she was rather unhappy with him for the time being. As such, when she finished her bowl, and made to leave, Naruto resolved to talk with her soon, at the very least to beg for forgiveness and apologize… again.

At this point, Gaara looked as if he had seen the truth of ten universes unveiled before his eyes.

"What's up, Gaara?" Asked Naruto.

"I should listen to rumors more often…" mused the Yondaime Kazekage's son. Upon seeing Naruto's confused face, he elaborated.

"After seeing how close you were to that Ajisai, and now seeing you and Tenten, I knew I should have given that Yamanaka girl more credit for her story. You really are in a three-way relationship!" Naruto face-vaulted at this 'revelation' of Gaara's, as Ayame laughed raucously from the background.

Naruto did everything he could to deny this, stating that Ajisai and Tenten were just friends, albeit close ones. Gaara, for his part, now believed that a part of fulfilling Naruto's nindo _must_ include great love. As such, the Ichibi Jinchuriki privately resolved to gain a suitable harem, and have a huge, love-filled family. Of course, Gaara was so introverted and so feared by the villagers that this could be a difficult endeavor, but if Naruto had done so, Gaara could too!

"But seriously, Gaara. Don't listen to those rumors. People are just being idiots and troublemakers." Naruto closed his eyes, but opened them again after hearing a familiar voice.

"Idiots and troublemakers, eh? What does that make you, my cute little genin? Just think of your poor Jonin-sensei, visiting his injured student, only to see you were missing?" Naruto looked up, an expression of pure dread on his face, as he saw Kakashi on his other side, eye-smile in full effect.

"Er… Er… Kaka-sensei… I can explain…" Kakashi's smile grew even more demonic-looking.

"I'm sure you can, after all, Godaime-sama and little Sakura-chan will undoubtedly be waiting when we return to your hospital room." Gulping and paying for his ramen, Naruto was shunshin'd away, resolving to take his punishment like a man.

"Some advice, Gaara-kun." Gaara turned towards the waitress, Ayame was it? "If there's one thing to learn from Naruto, don't make Tsunade-sama angry with you. You'd be surprised how many people we see flying through Konoha just from the impact of her punches alone." Gaara was now resolved in his thinking that Konoha might just be insane, but he still listened reverently, especially considering that Ayame hadn't said anything was wrong with his interpretation of Naruto's 'friendships'.

Now on his mental checklist: Become accepted by his village, gain a harem, and avoid pissing off Tsunade. That seemed reasonable enough…

* * *

Two days later, Tenten arrived in Naruto's room, with dark glee to see him chained to the hospital bed.

"It's what you deserve!" She said in a sing-song voice, dancing around the room as Naruto watched on, seething.

"Yeah, yeah…" Said Naruto, just happy that she was no longer angry with him. As he was unable to move, he asked Tenten to grab a box from his jacket. Obliging, she looked at it before placing it on Naruto's bed. As he gestured for it to be opened, Tenten looked at a copper bracelet with a red gemstone in the middle.

For everyone but Naruto, the significance of this wouldn't be clear, but for Naruto, it was a near exact copy of the bracelet he had gifted Ajisai, except with different colors.

"Ero-sennin told me that we'll be leaving the village to do training for the next two or three years. I wanted to give this to you so that if you're in danger, or you need to find me, it will be easy." Tenten looked surprised at Naruto's revelation, before placing the bracelet on.

"How does it work?" Naruto elaborated.

"If you channel chakra into the gem, I will know you're in danger. If you channel chakra into the bracelet, you will be pointed towards you. The fuuinjutsu is kinda complex, and it's still a work in progress, but I can update the seals remotely." Tenten looked at Naruto, who showed his hands, bound as they were. On each of his ring fingers was a ring – one was steel with a blue gem, one was copper with a red gem.

"Who is the blue one for?" Asked Tenten, curiously. She had a suspicion, but she could still be proven wrong for the better…

"I figured I should give one to Aji-chan too, just in case she's in danger. She's a friend of ours, y'know?" Tenten knew well enough that Naruto was sending _next-level_ mixed messages, but likely didn't intend to. Did he actually like her, or was he playing her for Ajisai? Or was he completely unaware, and sincerely thought this would be interpreted platonically?

"I guess. How will you stay in contact with me though, when you're gone?" Naruto struggled against the chains, which Tenten snapped using a kunai.

"Thanks. I'll show you: Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" With that, Naruto summoned two small toads, by the names of Gamakichi and Gamatatsu. "These little guys will deliver messages to you guys through the rings. It's kinda hard to explain, but the bracelets are tied to the rings, and rings are tied to me, and I'm tied to the toads, so the toads can use the rings on me to get to the bracelets." That was… strangely ingenious sounding. Or utterly mad – she could see it going either way.

"And they'll be fine with being messenger toads?" Naruto grinned.

"They'd better be, I'll be paying them with candy for each delivery. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee any replies back." At least Naruto would be keeping in contact while he was gone.

"Speaking of which, when do you leave? You will have _some_ time before you leave the village to train, right?" Naruto looked embarrassed again.

"Ero-sennin says we're leaving tomorrow morning, actually." Tenten was shocked and mildly incensed, but she could understand, if what she had heard about Sasuke's older brother and other high-rank missing-nin hunting Naruto down.

"I wish you could be in the village a bit longer." Said Tenten. "We've only gotten to see each other for the past bit of time." Naruto nodded in agreement.

"I agree, but I can't stay. Ero-sennin needs me ready so that I can survive another encounter with the Akatsuki. They'll come after me, and they'll come after Gaara, and every other Jinchuriki out there. Plus…" Said Naruto, before pausing, "I need to do my own investigation of something, something that I can't find in the village." Tenten didn't pry – if Naruto wouldn't say, he probably wouldn't say, and she wouldn't get anywhere trying to force it out.

"Oh well. When will you be back?" Naruto sighed, before looking out of the window.

"I don't know, maybe in two years or so? Ero-sennin told me we'd be back before I turn sixteen, and my birthday is in October, so…" Tenten's eyes softened a little bit.

"Being away from home like that will be pretty rough." Naruto nodded, before looking back at Tenten.

"It will be, but I guess you'll have to do the same thing, eh? I don't think Konoha will have another Chunin exam for some time." Tenten hmm'd in agreement, as the two pondered where the next exam could be: perhaps Suna, or Kusa, or one of the more obscure villages like Hoshi?

"Well, I bet your frogs can tell you where I am, if you're in the area…" Naruto frowned.

"Toads, and that might be tricky." Tenten tilted her head in confusion.

"Why's that?"

"Because if I make a promise to visit you whenever I can, I'd have to the same for Aji-chan, otherwise it wouldn't be fair." Tenten looked quite confused at this sentiment.

"Because the two of you are my best friends, and how can I justify taking time to see one of you when I can't see the other?" Tenten, seeing Naruto determined, was both happy that Ajisai wasn't getting favoritism, but unhappy that Naruto had effectively friend-zoned her.

"I suppose. But make me a promise, Naruto." She said, fixing the Uzumaki with a tough look.

"What is it?" Asked Naruto.

"Promise that I'll be the first one you see when you come back, Naruto." Naruto looked confused.

"But I'll have to see the gate guards first…" Tenten facepalmed, sighing.

"Once you're inside the village. Can you promise that you'll look for me first?" Naruto tilted his head, before nodding.

"Unless Tsunade-baachan really needs me to meet with her, you'll be the first person I look for." Tenten, satisfied with the resolve in Naruto's eyes, leaned forward to give him a tight hug before she left. Naruto, no longer restrained by the physical chains of Tsunade or by the sickening emotional spiral caused by grief and guilt, took in the embrace, trying to memorize every last piece of it – the feeling of Tenten in his arms, the smell of her, and the strength he could feel within the girl one year his elder, burning at her core like a great bonfire.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto and Jiraiya were on the move. Naruto had returned to his apartment the night before and gathered everything he needed, but had asked Sakura to look after his place in his stead. She was notably saddened that her other teammate was leaving the village, but reminded her that she had other friends and classmates, she wouldn't need to be alone. Their own meeting after his battle with Sasuke had ended with her happier than she had come in, both grateful that Naruto would make a full recovery and determined to become strong.

Additionally, he told the pink-haired girl that he believed in her, and in the strength she would gain by the time he returned. Naruto knew that Sakura's self-esteem issues were nearly as bad as his once were, and truly wanted to see her succeed – he had gotten over his crush towards her, but really wanted her to become someone towards him like Tsunade was to Jiraiya – an old friend who he understood on an instinctual level, someone he could rely on in good times and bad.

Thanking him and wishing him well on the journey, Sakura gave the Uzumaki a brief hug, but she left soon after, and unbeknownst to Naruto, would become the third member of Team Seven to study under a Sannin.

Kakashi, for his part, silently vowed to train hard with Gai and his other old classmates, and become strong enough to help his students bring back their wayward teammate before it was too late.

Naruto took one last look at Konoha, before sighing and following Jiraiya out of the village.

"Ready to learn until your head hurts and your body feels like it'll collapse, kid?" Naruto nodded silently, feeling both rings on his fingers. He would become strong enough to help and protect the people whose bracelets were tied to his rings, and perhaps with his strength, he could finally figure out his feelings towards his female best friends. Naruto smiled as he watched the sun rise – the summer rains of the night before had departed, but Naruto reveled in this new daybreak, and the start of a new chapter within his life.

* * *

 **Before we wrap things up fully, I have a question for you all!**

 **For those who live in the US, what is your favorite Thanksgiving food, and why? And for those who live outside of the US, what is the one food you would use to represent your country?**

 **See you all later, I guess.**

 **~KoS**


	25. Chapter 25: Chunin Exams Again

**Hello individuals of questionable reading taste! I'm your host, KingsOfSarutobi, and I'm coming at you live from a new chapter of 'The Orphan'! Now that we're in the intermission between the traditional starts/finishes of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, we get to turn our attention to our other primary characters of unquestionable protagonistic quality; Tenten and Ajisai!**

 **Hopefully this isn't too much of a gap between chapters, and I hope you enjoy the more whimsical nature of these chapters!**

 **~KoS**

As Tenten walked towards the gate with Sakura, the former sighed, looking out at the bright spring day. It had been a little over two years since Naruto left Konoha to study with Jiraiya, and another wave of fresh genin were soon to be added to the Shinobi corps – this would mark four years being in the shinobi corps for Tenten, whose sixteenth birthday had come and gone only a few months previously.

Her sixteenth birthday had been a more subdued affair than a civilian's would be, but she still celebrated nonetheless – her parents had taken her out to dinner at her favorite dumpling shop, her team had given her good wishes and new weapons (though Tenten only considered the gift of bright green tights a 'weapon' because of their potential to cause psychological damage), and Naruto's frog, Gamakichi, had delivered another letter along with a present from his summoner a necklace with red tomoe and a crystal flame, made of ruby. The year before, he had given her a white, sleeveless qipao with a flame design (The Last outfit).

Needless to say, Tenten was more than happy about that particular gift, but now she was on the lookout every day – who knew when her old friend would return? Would Naruto still be a genius in battle and a dense moron socially? Admittedly, Lee and Neji weren't exactly what one would call socially competent, especially with the new phenomenon of Lee forcing Neji to cross-dress in his pseudo-genjutsu skits. The less said about the things Gai put his students through, the better.

Of course, Tenten remembered the most prominent memory of her past year – the Chunin exams in Sunagakure, only a few months before her sixteenth birthday...

* * *

When Tenten arrived at the Chunin Exam Hall with her team, Team 10 with Sakura, and Team 8, she didn't know what to expect, but the sight of her acquaintance, rival(?), and fellow fuinjutsu user was not expected.

It was the day of the first exam, and teams were rolling in from almost every village that was neutral with Konoha: Suna, Taki, Kusa, and others too. In the first exam, a number of the genin were trying to communicate to their teammates which questions would be answered: some shouted, others used things such as sand, others still had sensory techniques.

While Tenten was sitting down near the crowd, she saw a hand raise four fingers out of the corner of her eye. Turning, Tenten saw the familiar purple hair, onion bun, and smooth confidence in shinobi matters – Ajisai was here.

"Ajisai-san." Said Tenten, looking at the Ame kunoichi. Said kunoichi looked at Tenten in surprise, before giving a soft, courteous smile.

"It's been a long time, Tenten-san. If, no, _when_ both of our teams make it through the first exam, want to catch up?" Tenten nodded, smiling.

The rest of the first exam had progressed on, and Tenten quite honestly couldn't be happier with its ending. While some of the genin teams either had exceptional synergy, sensory abilities, or _basic fucking mental fortitude_ , many of her competitors were not of this breed. Tenten had never been ashamed of being a Konoha kunoichi before she observed teams in her year or senior losing their minds, banging against walls or screaming at the proctors, while incorrectly guessing where the cameras were. Tenten had to chuckle, imagining Shikamaru's lazy satisfaction and Temari's horror at seeing the first part of the Chunin exam breaking down into chaos.

However, Tenten had an idea, more or less. Neji, with his Byakugan, could see through walls and observe what she and Lee were doing. Lee could take a 40 point question, or a 30 point question, and Neji would observe. Furthermore, as Tenten knew the points had to add to one hundred, only one of them could do the 40-point question. As such, she knew that if she took a 30 point question, then there was no problem with whatever Lee picked. Sighing, she walked up to the wall bordering her exam room and Neji's. Calmly, she waved at the wall, straight to where Neji was hopefully seeing her, then pointed towards herself and held up three fingers. Giving a thumb's up to Neji, she walked back to her table, answered the thirty-point question, and sat down.

Once confronted with the secondary question of who to leave behind, Tenten simply wrote 'No one, but I wouldn't be sad if Lee's nightmarish tracksuit were lost. I trust you'll think of something.' Nodding, Tenten turned to one of Ajisai's teammates, who was calm as can be.

"Hey." She said, looking towards her. The Ame kunoichi looked over at her suspiciously, the bottom half of her face obscured by a mask, giving her a strangely Kakashi-like look.

"Hello there. You must be Ajisai and Naruto-san's friend, right?" Tenten nodded, sitting down beside her.

"Yes, my name is Tenten. Want to talk while we wait for the exam to wrap up, or want to keep watching the show?" The kunoichi hesitated, before looking over at the mess of Shinobi and Kunoichi around her.

"Hmm. It seems a waste to neglect this... situation, especially considering we'll have plenty of time to talk once our teams meet up formally. Still, I feel as if this situation is... lacking something. Oh, and please call me Suiren." Tenten nodded sagely, before pulling out a scroll and unsealing several items. While Konoha had suffered economically in Suna and Oto's joint invasion only a few years prior, it had still given rise to a number of modern, advanced, and very easily manufacturable items not available in countries of poorer economic status such as Ame or the pre-Gaara Suna. Among those goods were foodstuffs such as dried ramen in cups, shitty boxed wine, and...

"Butter-flavored pop-corn?" Asked Suiren, who had never seen such an unusual paper bag in her life.

"Here." Said Tenten, using a Kawarimi to get a log, before lighting it on fire with a match, hanging a pan above the small fire, and placing the bag of popcorn in the pan. Suiren's surprise turned to near panic for a second, as the bag flared up with distinctive pops. However, no one else noticed in the chaos. Once the bag was finished popping, Tenten put out the fire and looked at Suiren sheepishly.

"Admittedly, I shouldn't have lit a fire in this place, but all's well that ends well." Said Tenten brightly, opening the bag and setting it on the desk between them. While Suiren had her doubts and a minor dislike of the Great Nations, she had no reason to hate this delectable food. It really did complete the experience - a strange but friendly acquaintance or future friend sitting beside her, both eating this beautiful buttery, salty food, watching incredibly inept genin try more and more desperate and stupid measures to pass the first task.

Chuckling and relaxing ever so slightly, the two sat and waited for the exam to finish. Once the first task was concluded, and both teams confirmed they had passed, Shikamaru and Temari announced that the next task would be in Suna for the first forty teams only, forcing a race to Sunagakure. As per their agreement, Ajisai and Tenten waited for both of their teams before leaving together, creating some interesting shenanigans.

* * *

"Eh?" Asked Fuyo in surprise.

"Yes, Fuyo-san! As long as all of your materials are sealed away, I can give you a piggyback ride to Sunagakure!" Ajisai looked in amusement as some type of green menace walked back towards Fuyo, rear end protruding as he expected her to sit down on his back.

"Oh come on, Fuyo," Said Ajisai wryly. "Were you not the one who was complaining about being unable to find yourself a…" Said kunoichi looked at Ajisai in annoyance.

"At least your man doesn't have caterpillars for eyebrows…" Tenten and Ajisai laughed, before starting the long journey to Sunagakure. Fuyo and Suiren weren't of the exact same physical fitness as Ajisai, the latter having spent much more time training to impress Tenshi-sama, and definitely, in no way, no way Jose, was influenced by the young man she thought about a lot, er, SOME of the time. Plus, the two were sensors, and rarely had to spend time in legitimate combat roles aside from their usage of umbrella senbon, a specialty of Amegakure.

As such, Neji and Lee found themselves giving piggybacks to Ajisai's teammates, Suiren much more satisfied with her, er… mount? than Fuyo. Suiren appreciated this Hyuuga fella's quiet, courteous nature. Fuyo found herself being dragged through the wind at Mach 5 for half of the journey by a crazy guy with near-sentient eyebrows who screamed about springtime, some Gai-sensei person, and 'Youthful activities with Sakura-san!'

The two kunoichi were the most amiable pair of the bunch, talking (although not in great detail) about what they had been up to recently. To the other four people, they looked like old friends catching up, but there was just a little bit (read: quite a bit) of tension created between the two, namely because of Naruto's connection.

It seemed that he had done everything he could to treat them in the most even ways possible – both received letters from a messenger toad at the same time, and the letters had more or less the same stories and experiences (with some variation if there was a topic of interest that came up), both had received a top from Naruto for their fifteenth birthday: Ajisai was now sporting a dark blue kimono jacket with a river design on it, and both of them had received a bracelet with a gemstone in the middle.

Three days later, they arrived in Suna, and as that day seemed to be reaching a natural conclusion, a Kusa-nin of immense size was making a break for the food.

For context, this Kusa-nin was bigger than big. With his great size and god-tier sweat glands, he made their mildly chubby Akimichi comrade look as thin as everyone else. It had been in the ensuing food fight that some of the characters of the Chunin exam started to make themselves known.

* * *

Tenten was fighting both for her pride and for the cleanliness of her qipao – food, glass, and fists were flying everywhere, and for some shinobi, this was more of a party than anything else. Of course, Tenten and Ajisai, who fought back to back in this bizarre ninja fiesta, noticed some of the teams who stood out more than others.

From Suna, the team of Matsuri, one of the genin particularly close to Gaara, and her teammates seemed to be more on top of things than some of the others. Additionally, the team with the medic, and the team with the creepy-looking puppet seemed to be working together well. Lee seemed to have noticed another team too, with a premier-looking taijutsu user.

From Ame, Ajisai's team was the only one worth noting. The rest ended up as punching bags for the rest, while Fuyo and Suiren defended each other in much the same way as Ajisai and Tenten were doing now.

From Konoha, the present members of their little group, which Ino christened the 'Konoha 12', seemed to be doing well enough too. The remaining Suna and Konoha nin ended up more as cannon fodder than anything else, seeing as they attacked as individuals, or in uncoordinated fashion.

Fuu, a green-haired Takigakure girl who spent most of her time talking about making friends, was jumping around, grabbing peoples' hands and asking them about mixed bathing.

A few seconds after the fighting started, everyone could hear Fuu's requests for friendship and backgammon, and decided to retire for the night. Sighing, Tenten and Ajisai regrouped with their teams, before nodding to each other with a smile.

"I hope we get to face each other in the final round, Tenten." Said Ajisai, calmly. "We never got to have our match from the first Chunin exam." Tenten agreed, and both young women remembered their past exam – starting as adversaries with different goals, and eventually forming a trio with Naruto that could have ended up being the final match in those exams. If only things hadn't gone downhill…

Several minutes later, Team Gai went outside to the sound of screaming, and found Team Asuma only recently released from what looked like a massive bug, with that Fuu girl dancing on the top of it, screaming about friendship once more. Not much longer, they headed inside with Team Asuma, but decided to keep a special eye on that green-haired girl. She may be whimsical, but there was some type of strength within her.

* * *

As Gaara looked at the carcass of the beast, and the Takigakure girl standing on top of it, he wondered how things had become so crazy. He was following the guide he had made from watching Naruto down to the dot: becoming Kazekage was slowly granting him the ability to pay his village back for all of the horrible things he had done, his secret plan to assemble a harem seemed to be working too, if the fact that he had a fan club was any measure of success, and he had avoided getting a punch to the face from the Godaime Hokage in all of his meetings with her.

Nowhere in the guide did it talk about crazy scorpions trying to eat competitors in your chunin exams that were chunin exams but also bait for both Akatsuki spies and village dissenters. Nowhere did it talk about strange green-haired girls who hugged him, tried to befriend him, and tried to drag him off to bathing halls.

Needless to say, Temari has some choice words for Fuu, but Gaara's mind was racing, oh the possibilities…

* * *

 **This chapter has probably the best sentence I've ever written. Anyone want to hazard a guess as for what it was?**

 **Have a good day, friends.**


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